Problems with Potions
by Paprika012345
Summary: Sakura, as a medic ninja is required to learn how to make various types of potions. What are the results when she botches one and the Rookie Nine and Team Gai end up drinking it by accident? SakuSasu, InoShika, NaruHina, NejiTen
1. Chapter 1

A/N-This is a story idea that MyNameIsKelsie13 gave to me, technically it's not mine...since I don't have any reviewers to thank I must implore you... Read and Review! And I put this in the first chapter of 'To Save A Life' and I'll put it here. People who read 'When Reality Becomes Blurred' please don't expect daily updates. I was only able to do that because all the ideas were already made out. I actually have to think about these two...read!

Disclaimer-I don't own Naruto

Chapter 1

"Ok…a dash of lemon juice…some of this clear stuff…water…. The main ingredient" she wrinkled her nose. "I don't even want to know what this is…spices…and basal…"

She bit her lip as a thick, odd smelling steam billowed out of the cauldron that was stewing on the stove as she added the last ingredient. "Now I don't think that that's supposed to happen." She said out loud as she frowned. Turning back to the book that Tsunade gave her, she studied the instructions to check where she had gone wrong.

"Ah. I see. I was supposed to add the basal _after_ the rest of the ingredients steep for 15 minutes." She said calmly. "WHY DO I EVEN HAVE TO LEARN THIS TYPE OF STUFF?" she screamed as she threw the dusty book across the room. Sighing, she went over, picked up the book and set it on the table.

Haruno Sakura went to the stove and, shutting it off, picked up the small but heavy stone cauldron that Tsunade had loaned her and plopped it in the sink. She had been assigned by her mentor to learn about potions because, as a medic ninja, they could be useful healing where chakra couldn't.

But she couldn't even get a simple therapy potion down. Oh it had worked when she had made it this afternoon at Tsunade's tower but now….

Stupid basal.

She ran her fingers through her pink hair, her fingers catching in curls created by the steam. "Enough of this." She growled. She turned away from the sink and opened a window to allow the particular smell that had filled the kitchen to filter out. After doing this, she stored the ingredients and marched upstairs to change into something more presentable so she could go out and get supplies for that night.

She was out and about in Konoha, looking at different stores so that she could get party supplies for the party she was hosting that night. While she was out she ran into Ino. "Oh my God forehead girl. This is going to be such a fun party!" she shrieked. "Ino-pig I thought I asked you not to call me that." Said Sakura dryly.

"Oh well Sakura, it's just a nickname…anyways, what do you have planned for tonight?" "Ino it's a party. I don't know…we'll probably just sit around and just talk like we normally do. What should I get to drink?"

Ino studied the wall of beverages in front of the two of them, trying to think. "Well….I've heard this is good…" she pulled a bottle of Vodka off of the shelf and showed it to Sakura. "Non-Alcoholic Ino-pig." Said the pink haired medic, rolling her eyes.

"Okay then just go for the club soda mixed with something. That always works." Sakura nodded in agreement and reached for the bottle. "Thanks Ino. I'll see you tonight okay?"

"Kay…Later Forehead girl!"

Later that day, at around 6 o'clock PM, Sakura could be found in her kitchen mixing lemonade with the clear yet fizzy club soda. After tasting it and deeming it the perfect party punch, she lifted the heavy cauldron-like punch bowl and set it on the table in her den. When she came back into the kitchen to prepare the snacks, she remembered the cauldron in the sink. She went over and peered at the contents, giving it a sniff as she did.

It sort of smelled like her punch.

She didn't know if that was a good thing or a bad thing…when she had made it in Tsunade's office earlier it had smelled like lavender-a therapeutic scent, as it was a therapeutic potion. However, even as she reached to dump it out…her doorbell rang.

"Come in!" she called as she abandoned the cauldron and started pouring the munchies into bowls. "Hello Sakura! It is I, Rock Lee, bringing chips from Team Gai!" Sakura sweat dropped as she greeted Lee and put the chips into bowls. "It's not just him, we're here too!" said TenTen, irritated.

"Hey Sakura!" she said, picking up a bowl of chips and beginning to munch. "Hey TenTen, Neji." "Hello Sakura." Said the Hyuuga coolly.

Sakura had barely directed Team Gai to the den when the bell rang again. After yelling for the people to come in, she went to the cupboard and scribbled some words on a post-it-note. "Hey!" she said, looking up as around the corner came… "Hey Sakura!" said Naruto…loudly. Sasuke was behind him, his normal expressionless mask on, a cake box under his arm. "Hn." He said as he handed her the box. "Here…Naruto bought it but I didn't want him to drop it." "Hello to you to Sasuke." She muttered as she slapped the post-it on the door and took the cake into the kitchen.

It was just the six of them for a few minutes, chatting and laughing (well…except Sasuke and Neji) until the door burst open. "HA! Told you I knew the way…" "Ino you're being loud." "So what?" she said, not surprisingly, loudly. "Hey Ino-Pig! Normally you're the first one here!" called Sakura from the den.

"Well if Shikamaru hadn't refused to ask me for directions then we would've been here sooner." Said Ino as she gave the lazy genius a glare and Choji the ice cream to Sakura who promptly rushed it up to the freezer.

As she walked through the hall towards the kitchen, she noticed that Ino had, whether on purpose or not, locked the door behind her team. In any case there was a rattling coming from the door. She smiled, knowing who it was. She walked to the door and flipped the lock.

"Sorry about that guys. Ino must've locked it." She smiled as Hinata, Kiba and Shino entered the house. "Th…. that's okay Sakura." Said Hinata quietly. She held out a container that warmed Sakura's hands as she took it. "I…I made them myself." The Hyuuga heiress said.

Sakura opened the container and sniffed. "They smell wonderful Hinata. You guys go down to the den, I'll put these on a plate and put the ice cream in the freezer."

An hour later, the party was in full swing. They had already played a game of blind man's buff-Neji and Hinata's favorite game because they merely used the Byakkugan and won every time.

It was at this point that the punch ran out. Sakura, preoccupied with a conversation with Ino, TenTen and Hinata about their sensei's, didn't notice Naruto pick up the punch bowl and make his way to the kitchen to refill it.

Once he got to the kitchen, he began to search carefully for the refills. However, the only thing he could find that was remotely similar to what they had just been drinking sat in a small cauldron in the sink. '_Why would Sakura mix the drink in that?'_ he asked himself mentally before shrugging and pouring the concoction into the punch bowl and carrying it back into the den.

Where he promptly poured himself a glass and took a huge chug.

Over the course of the evening, the punch bowl emptied for a second time, everyone complimenting Sakura on how good it was. However, soon side effects began to show through. Naruto was the first indication that something was wrong. The demon vessel let out a huge yawn and stretched before curling up into a ball and falling asleep.

Hinata was next. Then Shikamaru followed quickly by Shino and Choji. It wasn't until Sasuke fell asleep where he had been sitting that Sakura noticed. And as she turned to enquire what was wrong, TenTen slumped onto her shoulders, out cold. And then she clued in. She didn't remember filling the punch bowl.

She got up a little unsteadily as Neji slumped over followed quickly by Ino. Kiba was curled up like a dog, Akamaru at his side. She didn't have much time if her suspicions were correct.

She made her way as quickly as she could, considering her drowsing state, to the kitchen. Once there, leaning heavily on the counter she made her way to the sink and looked in to find…

An empty cauldron. Her eyes widened. _Oh no!_

"Naruto…he…I should've…" her head nodded and the strength holding her up gave out, causing her to slump to the kitchen floor, fast asleep.

A/N-Hope you guys enjoyed the first chapter of Problems with Potions. Review!


	2. Chapter 2

A/N- …..Wow…. I really didn't expect that kind of response for the first chapter of 'Problems with Potions'…. Surprisingly also, the one I posted simultaneously has only 2 reviews to this one's 8…which was not what I expected. (If anyone is fascinated by the Titanic (NOT THE MOVIE IT'S COMPLETELY DIFFERENT), then go check out my story 'To Save A Life'. Anyways, thanks to those who reviewed the first chapter of Problems with Potions- Duckichan87, Tiffanylicis, Iloveinuyasha44, Great Saiyaman, MistressBlossom, Loku (of the long reviews…. and I expect long reviews woman!) Windsoftiti, seguha, puppy444219, Kelsie H and Kawaii Chibi Sasuke Lover…. Read and Review.

Disclaimer-I don't own Naruto

Chapter 2

The bright sunlight hurt her eyes. She opened her eyes and stretched her body which was sore in every place…

From sleeping on the linoleum…. well the carpet. But it was only the thin rug that she had to stand on when she did her dishes. As the sun continued to hurt her eyes, she sat up and promptly remembered the fiasco of a party she had held the night previous…the one that had been a complete blast until there was that unfortunate mix up and….

And all her friends had taken her botched potion.

She shot to her feet and began to look around for any signs that something might be amiss. At first she thought everything was okay. She made her way through the kitchen and it took her a moment to realize…

Perception was completely off kilter.

Normally she could walk past the table and it would only come up to her waist…now, as she stopped beside it, she had to stand on tippie toe to see the top; the book she had been studying the night previous looked monstrous.

That should've been her first clue. But no. She walked into the hall…and noticed that the doorknob, which should've been at her waist, was at her eye level. After that she started to get some clue as to what was happening to her. The side effects…well not side effects per say, more or less…. effects of that particular potion…

When she got into the den it confirmed her train of thought.

Where Naruto had been curled up last night lay a 6 year old carbon copy…it was almost as if someone had invented a shrinking jutsu and used it on the Uzumaki.

It was practically the same for every other shinobi and kunoichi in the room. There were some changes. Because her face had shrunk, TenTen's buns were loose and threatening to fall out, Akamaru had shrunk to the size of an almost newborn puppy. But for the most part…

Every single person in that room-because all had drunk the potion- had turned into themselves…as children.

And they were all starting to stir. "Oh crap" breathed Sakura. She sat down heavily; aware of her own short trip to the ground as she watched her friends wake up. Rock Lee was up first. "Sakura! What has happened to you?" he cried, dashing forward…only to trip over his own two feet. "Your problem is my problem Sakura!" he said as he tried to recover his footing. "Let me use my youth to fix it!" Sakura let out a dry laugh.

"Lee you have no idea how much of this problem is yours. Look at yourself." Lee proceeded to the bathroom in all haste to examine himself in the mirror…only to find he wasn't in the mirror. "Where has my reflection gone?" he cried.

"Try climbing the counter." Advised Sakura wearily. By now everyone had woken up and had, more or less, discovered their new childlike state.

"Sakura…" said Ino dangerously. "What did you do to us?"

"Well…yesterday as an assignment I had to make potions for Tsunade I came home to try one but it didn't turn out and you guys showed up before I could throw it out the remains and when Naruto refilled the punchbowl last night he accidentally used the potion." Said Sakura in one quick breath. "You guys drank what was supposed to be a therapy potion but it was messed up so I don't know exactly what it did to you."

A stunned disbelief filled the room. "Are…you…serious?" breathed TenTen.

Sakura nodded, her pink bangs falling into her eyes. "I'm sorry guys…I should've gotten rid of the potion before you guys came over.

Neji huffed. "Especially if Naruto was coming over." He said, sliding his large, innocent looking eyes over towards the demon vessel. "Hey it smelled like and looked like what we had been drinking before. How was I to know that it was a potion?" Naruto started to giggle. "Hey Neji, don't use the death glare…with those eyes it doesn't work."

Everyone looked towards the Hyuuga and saw that, indeed, the death glare was pointless…Neji looked just too cute.

"Well…Sakura I remember from when we did potions in the Academy…we just brushed them but Iruka-Sensei did say that for every potion there is an antidote. Do you remember seeing one for this?" Asked Sasuke in his child voice-much higher than his normal deep tones.

"I don't remember." Said the pink haired girl in her chibi voice. "Let's go check."

Once in the kitchen, Sakura began to analyze how to get the old book off of the table so she could access it. She tried different methods-one included putting chakra into her feet and leaping onto the table but then she discovered that in her child like state she didn't have the chakra required for such a move. Finally she resorted to the old 'stand on a chair' method. While she was doing this, Shikamaru had come up with an idea. "Hey…couldn't we just go to Tsunade and get a antidote?" asked the lazy ninja. "Doing it this way is too troublesomely long."

The Medic-nin-in-training-turned-chibi looked at him. "Are you joking? Tsunade-sensei will have my head for giving you guys a potion-a botched one-even if it was an accident. I'd rather she didn't find out about this mistake, thank you very much Nara Shikamaru."

Shikamaru rolled his eyes. "Just a suggestion. Troublesome woman." He muttered.

Sakura struggled with the heavy old book for a few moments, attempting to lift it off the table. Finally, with a last heave she managed to get it off and set it awkwardly on the ground. "Let's see..." she said in her new, child-like voice, almost to herself.

"It was page 45..." She flipped frantically through the book, stirring up dust as she went until she found what she was looking for.

Her eyes skimmed the page. "Antidote...antidote."

"Ok here we go..." she reached up and brushed a strand of cotton candy hair from her face. "For this potion...and mind you, this is merely a fouled up version of the potion...there's...no antidote." She arched her eyebrows. "But this is good…they way I botched it…doesn't affect the outcome of the potion." She said as her finger ran along the words.

A stunned silence filtered through the room as everyone ignored the second statement and focused on the first. "No... Antidote..." said Neji in an odd voice. "So you mean we're stuck like this?"

"Oh, the potion can be reversed...but there's no way of forcing it to reverse...it's complicated."

She took a breath, brushed her pink bangs out of her face and continued.

"According to this...if the potion turns the drinker into a child, it's indicative that they lacked something in their childhood. What must be done is they must experience what they lacked and then...the potion will wear off. Simple as that."

"Simple…as…th..that?" said Hinata quietly.

"So you mean we're stuck like this?" Asked Naruto in disbelief, echoing Neji's sentiments.

"Well…. unless you figure out what it was you were missing in your first childhood…then…in a word, yes." Said Sakura.

A/N-So there you have it…like I said, check out 'To Save A Life' if you want…

Simon says…. push the button! Review!


	3. Chapter 3

A/N- Wow…thanks to those who reviewed the last chapter- (takes deep breath) Kyiri Makrono, Kawaii chibi Sasuke luver, tiffanylicis, C.A.M.E.O.1 and Only, Kyleai, Aua two tearz (Anon…thanks for the advice), Iloveinuyasha44, Loku of the Long Reviews, RetardoO, Link Fangirl01, Windsoftiti, ForeheadKat, MyNameIsKelsie13,Seguha, Liandrin, Puppy444219, MaoAyanamipl, Uchiha Aimee, Gripped, Scienceboy and Lyzz2nwn.

Disclaimer-I don't own Naruto

Chapter 3

It had taken Sakura a few moments before she had been able to calm everyone down enough to reason with them-such had been the uproar after her blunt statement.

"What do you mean we can't turn back?" Ino had asked angrily. "Ino-Pig I never said you couldn't turn back," said Sakura. She took a deep breath and plopped down onto the floor. "I just said that you couldn't turn back until you figure out what you were missing."

Ino sashayed over to where Sakura was sitting. "Well what if we weren't missing anything billboard brow?" asked the Yamanaka. Sakura looked up at her best friend-turned rival-turned sort of friend sort of rival and said, "Well obviously you are or else you wouldn't be like this. Ino I didn't botch the potion that badly."

"S..Sakura…" said Hinata quietly. "W…What are w..we going to d..do about our families?"

"Well…" said Sakura thoughtfully. "To tell the truth I don't know."

Everyone immediately fell over anime style. Except Naruto and Sasuke. "I don't have to worry about family," said Sasuke somewhat bitterly. "Neither do I…" Naruto left the sentence hanging.

"Well then how about this. First of all…" Sakura went over to the cupboard and, climbing the shelves, retrieved a fistful of pens and a pad of paper. "Here. Everyone…" she looked over towards Naruto and Sasuke carefully. "Who has family at home, write a letter to your family and tell them that you'll be staying at my house for the next couple days. We do this all the time so it shouldn't be that much of a bother."

Everyone took time to do this and Sakura sent all the letters off via messengers-as in she picked someone standing outside and in her cutest, little kid voice, asked them to take the letters to their respective owners. When she got back inside, she moved on to the next order of business…aliases.

"Some of our names…like Uchiha, Hyuuga…they're too recognizable. What we all need is to make up a name that we can use if an adult asks us for our name," said Sakura in a contemplative voice as she reviewed the options in her head.

"Whatever. I'm getting out of here." Sakura shot her head up as Sasuke made his way to the door. "Wait Sasuke, you can't just leave…"

Suddenly an idea dawned on the medic ninja. "No. Wait. We all leave…to think about what, possibly our thing could be. Some will be much easier than others. Tonight we'll meet back up here. Well, if you're still a child, meet back up here. If you're not, go home. But this will give us time to think at the very least."

With that being said, Sakura herself got to her feet and walked through the hall and out the front door, leading by example.

Slowly the rookie nine and Team Gai dispersed into Konoha. Everyone was, for the most part alone, but there was some paring off. TenTen, Neji and Lee had decided to stick together and search for their answers together while Hinata, Kiba and Shino had splintered into three different parts but none were alone. Naruto was with Hinata, Kiba had gone with Choji and Shikamaru while Ino had set out with finding Sakura in mind; Sasuke had gone alone.

TenTen, Neji and Lee started out heading to the training grounds they usually met at-somewhere that only they went to…when Gai taught them, it was usually elsewhere-not even he knew of this place. But it was on the way there, while people were staring at the three of them, that TenTen remembered. "Neji, Lee!" she hissed at her teammates.

"Take off your forehead protectors," she said quietly, taking hers off.

Her teammates looked at her as though she had suggested they strip down and do the hokey pokey. "What did you say TenTen?" asked Lee, his bushy eyebrows furrowed in confusion. "I said take off your forehead protector…even though it's around your waist…"

"Why TenTen?" asked Neji coolly. "I know I'm not…I'll keep my forehead covered thanks." TenTen flinched. She knew he was referring to the Hyuuga seal. "Because you two…we're not even supposed to be Genin yet. To everyone we're passing we look like 6 year olds…we need to act the part and six year olds don't have forehead protectors! If showing your curse seal is so wounding to your pride then here."

TenTen reached up to her head and unwound both her ribbons from her buns causing them to loosen and fall, showing that her hair reached about halfway down her back. Tying them together to form one long ribbon, she handed them over to Neji who turned around, removed his protector and wound the ribbon around his forehead, effectively covering the mark he sought to hide.

"There." He turned around…and it looked different from the Neji that TenTen knew.

Somehow, without his forehead protector he was less a ninja and more the innocent kid. The makeshift bandages gave his face a less imposing look and more of a friendly look. It made his eyes seem larger even more innocent.

He wouldn't like it if she said that but TenTen found herself blushing as she thought 'Neji looks…really cute…' "What's wrong with you?" his cold voice reminded her that even if he looked less imposing, he was still…Neji. A teammate. End of story.

"Well I, Rock Lee will now divulge what it is that I lost in childhood! I, even though I was in the early springtime of youth, did not train faithfully. If I had maybe I could've been a better ninja. As such, I shall now train!"

TenTen started when he mentioned training and then smiled. Her teammate was not being truthful and she knew it. Or maybe…he just didn't realize yet what it was he was missing.

"Well Lee I think you can do it," said TenTen suddenly. "I mean, even though you don't have anything chakra-wise, you still know all the skills and don't kid yourself…you're an excellent ninja."

Lee turned to her and looked at her with innocent wonder. "You think so TenTen?" he asked, a strange light coming to his eyes. "Yeah! Of course you can Lee!" she smiled at him, eyes flickering to Neji for a brief moment. He refused to take the bait, leaving it to TenTen.

"TenTen thank you for the encouragement!" He said happily. Suddenly his face dropped and a popping noise was heard.

And before them stood a full-grown Lee, towering over them all his green glory. "What? I have turned back to normal! Figuring out that needing more training was what I was missing worked! Now I shall help my teammates figure out what they are missing."

"No Lee…" said Neji hastily. "That's fine. We can figure it out by ourselves…I actually think we're supposed to!" said TenTen. "Just don't tell Gai-Sensei or anyone about this okay?" Lee responded, "Very well then…I am off to train!" he was gone.

"I don't understand what just happened," Neji said, bewildered.

TenTen, however, smiled. "He got it wrong, what he was missing. He thought he was missing the fact that he hadn't trained as a child, but do you remember what Gai-Sensei told us when we had been hard on Lee? About how, in his childhood, people made fun of him because of his lack of chakra abilities? Well I thought about that when he mentioned the training, put two and two together and realized that what he was missing wasn't the training itself but rather the encouragement. All he needed was one of us" here she shot a Look at Neji "To encourage him. That would make up for what he had been missing."

"What are you looking at me like that for?" asked the child-like Hyuuga, puzzled. "Because I wanted your help. But you wouldn't give it." Neji smiled slightly. "You were doing a fine job TenTen."

TenTen rolled her eyes and said, "Its getting warm, let's go into this store." She grabbed Neji's arm and pulled him into the department store.

A/N-There you go…I wasn't sure about this chapter…but I do know that Lee was teased as a child… But anyways Read and Review.


	4. Chapter 4

A/N-(blink blink) 58 REVIEWS IN THE FIRST 3 CHAPTERS? YOU GUYS ARE AWESOME! Ok. Takes deep breath Thanks to those who reviewed the last chapter runs out of breath, takes another deep breath Tiffanylicis, I-Have-Issues-Deal-With-It, Kyiri Makrono, Iloveinuyasha44, Sakura-cherryblossom93, Duckichan87, angellive, Link Fangirl01, Kyo-Kun AND Hatsuharui are hot, Joyness, Lioness of the fire, MaoAyanamipl (anon), windsoftiti, Kawaii Chibi Sasuke Luver, C.A.M.E.O.1 and Only, puppy4444219, sakuE-chan, narutard45, Arabella Sparrow, seguha, iamNOTafangirl3221, kyleai, MeMe (anon) and Cyberwing-thanks for reviewing the last chapter! Read and Review!

Disclaimer-I don't own Naruto

Chapter 4

Uchiha Sasuke (mini version) strolled through the streets of Konoha kicking a stone in front of him as he did. Being the smart person he was, he had already removed his forehead protector to avoid unnecessary questions. He continued to wander the streets of Konoha until he reached the park and climbed up onto the bench. Literally climbed.

He had forgotten how pathetically short he had been in his younger years.

His shortness aside, he just sat there and thought about his past. About his childhood. About what the hell he was missing so he could achieve whatever it was and turn back into his normal self. Sasuke leaned back and studied the canopy of leaves above him, the sun barely making it through them to shine on his face.

But it wasn't like he didn't know. "What I was missing as a child." He muttered, staring at the sky. "Well that's obvious. A loving, stable family." He sighed and glanced around the park. Up one side of the cement path, he could see a group of children-real children, not grown people turned into children from the messed up potion- playing around and a tall, slender woman in her early twenties with long brown hair and gentle green eyes walking towards him with her arms laden with groceries. Sasuke turned away when he saw the eyes.

The woman's eyes looked like Sakura's eyes.

He didn't know when, exactly, he had started to see Sakura in that light. Certainly not when they were children, the girl had been too immature and annoying at that point. But, to be sure, she had matured when he was in Sound. However, when he had come back, Tsunade had been ready to throw his butt into Konoha Prison for becoming a missing ninja but Sakura had asked the Lady Hokage for clemency on his behalf and Tsunade, impressed by Sakura's eloquence had let him off with about a million hours of community service.

But what had (finally) attracted him to her, and had caused him to notice how much she had really changed was when she didn't ask him for anything after saving him from prison. The old Sakura would've begged for a date…or something. She…didn't.

And that was when he had noticed her. He just hadn't told her yet.

"Hey…little boy…do your parents know where you are?" asked a concerned voice of the female variety. Sasuke looked up, startled, into the green eyes of the woman, who was holding the groceries. "Do they know where you are?"

Sasuke could only stare dumbly at the woman. Finally, when he came to his senses, he shot the woman his patented glare. It, however, failed because of the fact that he was simply too cute as a chibi to send any death glares.

"My parents are dead," said the Uchiha emotionlessly. "Oh!" cried out the woman as she set some of the parcels she held on the ground and wrapped her slender arms around the little miniature Sasuke. "You poor thing," she said softly as she rocked the little boy. Sasuke hadn't been embraced like this for a long time-by someone and as she continued to rock the little boy, Sasuke felt his eyes fill with tears.

He hadn't cried since the day his parents had been killed. As his onyx eyes filled with tears and little shining drops that sparkled like crystal in the noonday sun, he realized that, since he was a child, his emotions were more volatile because he hadn't had the control that time had given him. He tried to hold back but when the woman felt him struggling to control his emotions, she rubbed his back and whispered, "It's okay." With that, he leaned into her, wrapped her arms around the kind woman…

And sobbed.

After his tears had finally abated, the woman pulled back which allowed Sasuke to rub his eyes fiercely. "My name is Kayko. What's your name?" she asked softly. He acutely remembered Sakura's warning to not give out his real name because everyone knew about the Uchiha clan and as such, said, "My name is Kyo."

"Do you have anyone waiting for you at home Kyo-Chan?" she asked. Sasuke/Kyo shook his head and spoke the truth. "My brother left after my parent's died. I've been alone since then."

Kayko started to gather her parcels up and stood. "Well, if you'd like, my husband and I have no children and you could stay with us for awhile," She said softly. Sasuke looked up at her with his big, child like black eyes and then looked back down. "I'd just be a bother."

"No you wouldn't!" said Kayko firmly. Sasuke continued to look down, refusing to meet the kind woman's eyes. "Well, Kyo-Chan, if you change your mind," Sasuke looked up. "My house is just down this path." She juggled her parcels and pointed. "You can come by anytime." Sasuke nodded and gave the woman a broken smile, broken from having been unused for so long. "Thank you Kayko-San," he said softly.

As the brown haired woman walked off, Sasuke rested his forehead on his palm and clenched a fistful of his hair. He thought what he had been missing, when he had been doing it at least, had been crying over his fallen parents. However, now that he had…and he hadn't turned back, he had realized that what it had been was something more.

"Sasuke," called Sakura quietly. He looked up as she came up from behind him and clambered onto the bench.

"Yes Sakura?" he asked the pink haired girl. Sakura looked at him with her wide, green, childlike eyes and started to speak.

"I know that, as an Uchiha you're proud…so why did you let her hug you?"

"I didn't let her," he explained stoically. "She just came up and hugged me after I told her that my parents were dead when she asked if they knew where I was."

"Well…Sasuke…" Sakura swung her legs back and forth off the edge of the bench as she spoke. "Have you been thinking about what you're missing?" she asked carefully.

"Of course I have," snapped Sasuke, running his fingers through his hair. "But how do you get a family?"

"I heard Kayko-San's offer. She and her husband could do that…provide a family type environment that is. Why don't you take her up on her offer? Spend some time with her and her husband and maybe you'll get back the family that you missed as a child."

Sasuke looked at her, as if not hearing what she had just said. "You want me to go into a strangers house and act as their child?" asked the Uchiha indignantly. His pride wouldn't entertain the thought.

"Sasuke." "Hn." "Do you want to be a chibi for the rest of your life? Because if you do, by all means turn down Kayko's offer," she snapped.

Sasuke glared at her and stood up. "You're annoying," he said softly. '_Annoying but I wouldn't have you any other way'_ he thought, smirking internally. For he now knew that, without her subtle form of encouragement, he would've never considered Kayko's offer for a split second.

Sakura focused her emerald gaze on the ground as Sasuke started to walk away, but she had a smile on her face. She looked up suddenly as his footsteps started to grow softer. "Where are you going?"

He paused and looked back. "Kayko told me that her house was this way." Sakura split into a smile. "Have fun Sasuke."

A knock was heard at the door. Kayko, in the process of putting the groceries away, stopped and walked down the hall with a small smile on her face. She opened the door to Kyo looking up at her with his wide onyx eyes. "Do you want to come in Kyo-Chan?" asked the black haired woman gently. Sasuke nodded and Kayko took her hand and brought him into the house.

Sakura had tailed Sasuke and watched as the kind looking lady took the hand of her long-standing crush and took him into her house. "Have fun Sasuke," she whispered as she turned around to go meet back up with Ino.

A/N-HAHA! I'll bet you guys that when this chapter opened up with Sasuke, you thought he'd be changing back ne? NO SUCH LUCK!

Read and Review!


	5. Chapter 5

A/N-Thanks to those who reviewed Chapter 4-Kyiri Makrono, Iloveinuyasha44, Kawaii chibi sasuke luver, tiffanylicis, liandrin, Animegurl9164, RetaroO, MaoAyanamipl, windsoftiti, puppy444219, iamNOTafangirl3221, Loku, seguha, rebel-girl, MeMe, C.A.M.E.0.1 and Only, Link Fangirl01, duckichan87, Karen Trujillo and Arabella Sparrow. jeez, at the rate this story is going there will be 100 reviews after this chapter...ARIGATO MINNA-SAN! Read and Review...and if any of you get the chance, scoot over and check out 'To Save A Life'...good story, not near as many reviews as this one. (There, Loku, I advertised!). Just so you know, there is a hint of Yaoi in this chapter, don't say I didn't warn you.

Disclaimer-I don't own Naruto

Chapter 5

Sasuke allowed himself to be lead into the house until they got to the kitchen, upon which Kayko released his hand and walked over to the cupboards. "I'm just in the middle of putting the groceries I bought away Kyo-Chan," Said Kayko before continuing "After I'm done though, I need some help making cookies…do you want to help me?" she turned around and smiled sweetly at the little black haired boy who stood, stiff as a wooden doll in the entrance to the kitchen.

His mother had never made cookies with him before she died so he was sort of unfamiliar with the concept. "Come sit down on one of the stools!" she said, gesturing to the island in the middle of the kitchen with a box of pancake mix. He padded forward across the ceramic floor and climbed up onto the wooden stool.

"So, what kind of cookies would you like to make?" asked Kayko cheerfully. She turned around and looked at the little boy, placing her elbows on the counter, resting her chin in her palm. "I've never really…made cookies before," muttered Sasuke. "My mom…" he almost said 'was killed' but decided to go with "passed away before I was old enough to make cookies with her."

Kayko straightened up a sad look in her eyes. "I forgot about that Kyo-Chan…" Sasuke cut her off. "Just call me Kyo please."

She smiled. "Okay, Kyo, I'm sorry, I forgot. Well…" a devilish smile crossed her face as she fiddled with something in the cupboard beneath the counter. "One of the main ingredients is," she came up and flicked her fingers at Sasuke. "Flour." The Uchiha found his face coated in white powder. Against his better judgment, his child like face split into a small smile. "Now," said Kayko firmly. "What kind of cookies would you like to make?"

OoOoOoOoOo

Meanwhile, while Sasuke was learning how to make cookies, Shikamaru, Kiba, and Shino were all sitting on the top of the Hokage carvings, looking out over Konoha. A miniature Kiba was playing with the puppy sized Akamaru, Shino was allowing a bug to crawl over his skin and Shikamaru was reclining on the grass in quiet contemplation-which meant he was staring at the clouds, trying to pretend he wasn't in the body of a six year old.

"So Shino," said Shikamaru, getting bored of cloud staring. "What do you think you're missing?"

Kiba snorted from where he was playing on the grass with Akamaru. "Umm, try a good psychologist." Shino frowned and whispered something to a bee that had been crawling on his finger who promptly flew over to the dog tamer and stung his hand. "OW! Shino I thought we agreed, no bees!" Shino said nothing to Kiba, instead leaned back and answered Shikamaru.

"When you come from a family who works with creatures that have such a small life span, people tend to forget your birthday. As such, as a child, I never had a half decent birthday party, let alone, birthday cake. It bothered me, especially when people asked me to their birthday party and I didn't know what it was but after awhile I kind of went numb on the subject and tried not to think about it." Shino looked out over Konoha.

Kiba looked at the bug wielder with a curious look on his face. Then, abruptly, the dog trainer got up and walked off, his hands in his pockets, Akamaru on his head. "Where are you going Kiba?" asked Shikamaru in a lazy voice. "Out. I'll be back up here in a few minutes."

OoOoOoOoOoOo

Meanwhile, down on the streets of Konoha, a heavy-set boy with red swirls on his cheek was suffering, again, the teasing from being his particular weight. "Fat people can't play this game." "I'M NOT FAT!" he said as he shoveled the chips into his mouth again. The rest of the children there laughed and one snatched the bag of chips away from the miniature Choji. "Yeah right fatty." The bully dumped the chips on the ground. "You don't need these," he jeered. The children turned back to the game that they had been playing, laughing at the tears brimming in the little boy's eyes.

"Stop this at once!" came an imperial sounding voice from behind the bullies. They turned around and came face to midsection with a tall, heavyset majestic looking woman, who wore rings on her fingers and carried a large purse on one arm. "Don't even think about teasing this boy because of his weight again. Ever! Now, go away and have your fun somewhere else." The children, upon hearing those words, scattered.

The woman then proceeded to rummage around in her purse for something and, much to Choji's happiness; she produced out another bag of chips. "Here. And don't listen to them, you're not fat you're pleasantly plump." Choji wiped his eyes and smiled. "Thank you…no one, before has told me that." The woman pinched his red swirled cheek, causing him to smile even more as he opened the chips. "Well don't let anyone tell you otherwise." She said before turning to leave.

The woman walked majestically away and Choji smiled happily. This smile lasted a mere second before his face, like Lee's had, dropped and another 'pop' was heard. The smoke cleared…

And Choji was back.

OoOoOoOoOoOoOo

Kiba walked into the shop, feeling Akamaru perk up on his head at the various scents that drifted into his nostrils. He reached for his wallet and checked how much he had. "That's a perfect amount," He said with satisfaction. That being said, he went right over to the counter and started examining the samples.

"Hello little guy! I'm sorry but your puppy can't be in here," said the sale's girl, a cheery smile on her face. Kiba sighed. "Akamaru, go wait outside okay?" the dog obediently leapt off of Kiba's head, snorted at the cash girl and trotted outside.

"Now, what can I get for you?" Kiba looked at the case in front of him, and one of what he was looking for immediately jumped out at him as perfect. "I'll have that one…and can you write on it?" "Sure! What would you like?" asked the over enthusiastic clerk. After Kiba had told her, he waited for her to finish, paid and went next door with his parcel in hand.

After picking up the desired parcels, the dog trainer made his way back to the Hokage carvings, burdened with a bunch of parcels. "Okay Akamaru. Go ahead and get Shikamaru out of there." Akamaru barked and ran ahead, mission in hand, err…paw.

Kiba, meanwhile, sat in the bushes, opening boxes and attempting to click lighters with his little clawed fingers. Once Akamaru came back, without the note that had been attached to his collar, and barking he knew that Shikamaru was gone and this was the perfect opportunity.

Picking up the box, with a wrapped parcel under one arm, he stepped out of the bushes, causing them to rustle as he came up behind Shino and began to sing. Horribly off key but he still began to sing. His song of choice? Happy Birthday.

Shino froze when he heard the caterwauling behind him. Turning slowly around, he saw his teammate headed right for him, supporting a cake box on both palms and a parcel under one arm.

Finishing up the song, Kiba set the bee shaped cake in front of his teammate. Shino, behind his dark glasses, rolled his eyes and said, "It's not my birthday," in an emotionless voice. After watching Kiba sputter for a moment, his face split into a smirk and he said, "You didn't have to do this Kiba," as he read the writing which said 'Happy birthday bug boy'.

"I know I didn't. Here, open this."

Shino obligingly took the wrapped present and tore the insect covered paper off of…a child's bug hunting kit. The Aburame shook his head and smirked. "You really didn't have to Kiba."

As the dog tamer watched Shino play with his bug kit and eat his cake a smile crept across his face.

"I know I didn't Shino."

A/N-There you go, enjoy! This hint of Yaoi was bourght to you by Karen...you can thank her for that.

Review!


	6. Chapter 6

A/N-2 more reviews and my little 6-chapter story will have 100 reviews…YOU GUYS ROCK! Thanks to Kyiri Makrono, windsoftiti, iamNOTafangirl3221, rebel-girl,Dog of the Dead, liandrin, Iloveinuyasha44 (you make a very valid point), Amberly, Animegurl9164, Link Fangirl01, seguha, Kawaii Chibi Sasuke Luver, Puppy444219, duckichan87, Karen Trujillo, MaoAyanamipl, and C.A.M.E.O.1 and Only. TO THOSE OF YOU WHO DIDN'T LIKE THE SO-CALLED 'YAOI' I PUT IN THE LAST CHAPTER READ THE BOTTOM A/N! Read and Review

Disclaimer-I don't own Naruto

Chapter 6

Shino held out an icing covered index finger for the bee that had been flying by, which gladly landed on his finger and began crawling over the yellow colored icing, nosing it cautiously. "Thank you for the cake Kiba," the bug master said stoically, looking at the bee intently through a magnifying glass that had come with his bug kit. "No problem. We are teammates after all, and a friend. Least I could do after you saved my life last mission with your…bugs…and I thought I'd return the…"

A popping was heard. Shino vanished for a moment and reappeared as the grown bug boy that everyone knew and…found creepy. "…Favor," ended Kiba lamely. Shino smirked and stood up. "I'm going home." Kiba stood up as well. "I'm going to go find everyone else."

OoOoOoOoOoOo

Ino was alone in the middle of a field of flowers, the same one she had gone to with Sakura when they were in the Academy and learning about flowers and the like. She hadn't been here in heaven only knew how long, and, since she was a kid again, she was less conspicuous than if a 18 year old Chunnin had come to the field and looked around. She unbound her shoulder length hair from its usual style and lay back on the grass, eyes closed, enjoying the fragrant flowers.

"How troublesome…you stole my position." Ino was shocked from her position to squint up into the eyes of the lazy ninja. "So what Shika? This was my position to, for a lot of years when I came out here with Sakura."

Shikamaru sighed nosily. "Only call me that when we're in our battle formation. I thought we established that." Ino giggled and rolled over onto her belly, giving Shikamaru a gentle shove causing him fall onto the green grass of the meadow. "Just enjoy it Shika-Kun…and I can call you that!" She added a threatening undertone to the last part of her sentence.

Shikamaru propped himself up on his elbows and stared at the clouds. "Troublesome girl," he muttered. Fortunately Ino didn't hear him. Instead, she said, "So Shikamaru, what do you think you're missing?"

Shikamaru gave her a side-glance, before closing his eyes and looking back upwards. "It's too troublesome to tell you."

Ino sat up and looked at him, rolling her eyes. "In other words, you lazy bum, you haven't thought about it and you don't know."

OoOoOoOoOoO

Sasuke sat in front of a hot oven. It was interesting, actually, how the cookies went from a shapeless mass to a flat, ordered piece of pastry. All it took was a little time and…

Okay, maybe comparing how his life had been to a _cookie_ was a little…weird…but hey...it was true. His life had been out of order for so long, at the beginning. Now, he was in the oven and he just needed a little more time…and..

DING!

Kayko came forward with something that Sasuke had learned was called an oven mitt on her hand and, reaching into the oven, pulled out the completed cookies...

He'd be done.

And he almost, kind of, sort of knew what it was he was missing… other than the whole family atmosphere that Kayko was providing. It was...

OoOoOoOoOoOo

…Sakura walked down, what was affectionately called 'cherry blossom way' because if it's, you guessed it, sakura trees. The cherry blossoms-last of the season- caught in her hair as they fell and she reached up to brush them out. Looking over at a park, she noticed some kids playing. Kids who were her 'age'. One little girl looked up and glanced over, as if having felt Sakura's gaze. "Hey!" she called, waving her hand enthusiastically. "Come play with us!"

Sakura turned slightly pink and, shaking her head, turned away and ran.

She was a Kunoichi-a Chunnin, she possessed super strength, she was the Hokage's apprentice… and she was still scared of people making fun of her forehead.

If just one…_just one_ person would call her forehead pretty instead of ugly…. She would be forever indebted to that person because she had a hunch that that's what she was missing-someone who would build her self-esteem up when she was feeling down on herself. (Ino didn't count; she hadn't tried to build up Sakura until they were 10 and right now, she was about 6)

Just _one _person…

OoOoOoOoOoOo

The Hyuuga and the weapons mistress (miniature of course…) stood in the department store, looking around. TenTen spotted a giant sign in the back that said 'Toys' and a wide grin split her face.

"Neji! Let's run back and play with the toys!" she took his hand and began to pull him. He stood still as a stone and looked this way and that, avoiding TenTen's gaze. "No TenTen," said the Hyuuga finally, taking his hand out of hers.

"What's wrong Mr. Uptight?" she asked, giving him a shove in the shoulder. "You act like you never ran around the department store when you were a kid."

His silence told her more than he could.

"Oh…are you serious?" she asked, shocked. "When I was this age, I saw every other child-including you-running around the stores and the streets of Konoha, having fun. I ached to join you but my mother and my father were big on Hyuuga pride, and refused to let me. 'You're a Hyuuga..' That's what they always said."

TenTen blushed first at the notion that he had watched her as a kid but then, grew sad as the child –like, milky pale eyes softened in regret. Suddenly an idea grew in her head as she twisted her right index finger in her brown hair. Smiling slyly, she looked around, first to the right, and then to the left before leaning in and saying in a low voice "I don't see your mom and dad here right now …" She reached over and poked him in the arm. "You're it Neji," she giggled before darting off in between the racks of clothes.

Neji looked shocked before his child-like face relaxed into a smile and he darted off after her.

OoOoOoOoOoOo

"Hey Hinata?" "Y…yes Naruto?" "What do you think you're missing?" Hinata turned pink and looked down at the road that they were strolling down. "I..I don't know Naruto…" she said, looking away from the blonde.

She was lying to him. She had a good idea what she was missing. In her minds eye, she saw a horrified wide-eyed little boy with bandages wrapped around his forehead. His horrified expression changed to hatred…the way her cousin had always looked at her until after the Chunnin exams when Neji had finally lay down some of his hatred of the head family.

"I was never allowed to go into that store when I was younger…" Arbitrarily Naruto stopped and pointed his finger at a department store, the same one that Neji and TenTen had gone into earlier. Taking his child like hand and wrapping his fingers around Hinata's, he pulled her. "Come on!" he said, a smile on his face.

Hinata stared down at their entwined hands and turned roughly the color of a tomato as she allowed Naruto to pull her into the cool shade of the department store.

A/N-Hehehe…for this chapter, I thought I'd put some fluff into it and kinda show where everyone was…Review!

To those who…objected to the Yaoi I put in the last chapter, I just phrased it wrongly I think. I've always kinda been over cautious in classing that thing…I think that Iloveinuyasha44 put it best-it's kinda just someone doing something nice for a friend.


	7. Chapter 7

A/N-Thanks to those who reviewed the last chapter- Tiffanylicis, kawaii Chibi Sasuke Luver, duckichan87, Arashi Maxwell/Link Fangirl01, C.A.M.E.O.1 and Only, puppy444219, Ilove inuyasha44, RetaroO, Raefire, MaoAyanamipl, Lioness Of the Fire, xelagirl2, windsoftiti, rebel-girl, Uchiha Aimee, seguha, Dog of the Dead, Kyuubi92, and liandrin.

Disclaimer-I don't own Naruto

Chapter 7

Sasuke walked out the front door of Kayko's house with a little package of cookies in his hand. "Remember Kyo," he heard Kayko call from inside. "Be back here in time for supper!" Sasuke acknowledged her with a "Yes Miss Kayko," before continuing out the door, in pursuit of someone.

Yes, that was right. Someone. After years of being pursued by various girls, Sasuke had decided that he was going to go after someone. That's what the cookies were for.

Then he saw her. Her pink hair was, to put it bluntly, a dead giveaway. She was sitting on a bench, looking up at the Hokage carvings and obviously trying to ignore the group of children that were playing in front of her. He walked over and, like a monkey, climbed over the back and sat down next to the child like Sakura.

"Oh Sasuke!" said the girl, turning to look at him with a sad little smile on her face. "What's up? How did everything go with Kayko?" "Fine. I learned," he said, smirking slightly "How to make cookies. Want one?" he opened the little package that Kayko had given to him saying _'share these with your friends.' _Sasuke handed her a chocolate chip cookie.

"Did you poison this?" asked Sakura as she examined the cookie in depth. Sasuke scowled slightly. "No. It is a chocolate chip cookie that I helped Kayko make from scratch." He picked one out of the package and put it in his mouth. "They aren't poisoned."

"Okay…" Sakura put the cookie in her mouth and her facial expression changed. "Sasuke this is really good!" she said, a smile splitting her face. "Hn. Glad you like it."

"So, you were missing a family…how long before you turn back?" asked Sakura carefully. "Well…I think I'm missing more than one thing because, by rights, I should've turned back already if I was missing a family. I think…is it possible for you to be missing more than one thing?"

Sakura thought back to the book that lay, right now, open on her kitchen table while chewing her cookie thoughtfully. "Well…in rare cases when the person had a traumatic childhood…then yes. So…maybe."

Sasuke looked back up to the sky. "Hn," he said thoughtfully. Sakura looked back at him. "Are you going back to Kayko's tonight?" He closed his eyes and smiled. "Aa. She told me to come back for supper."

OoOoOoOoOoOo

The day wore on, with the sun slowly making it's way to the west. Kiba finally left Ino and Shikamaru, intent on going to the dog park that was in town. Since it was fast approaching the time when Sakura had told everyone to meet back up at her house, Ino convinced the lazy ninja to get to his feet and head with her back to the house.

"Seriously Shikamaru what are you missing? And don't say it's too troublesome to tell me."

Shikamaru rolled his eyes and, putting his hands behind his head, slid his eyes towards Ino. She sighed and strode forward on her short legs, away from Shika. "Forget I said anything."

"Praise." Ino stopped and turned around, looking at Shikamaru oddly. "What did you say?" she asked, carefully. He sighed and caught up with her. "I said praise." _'This is troublesome…I can't believe I'm telling her.'_ "When I was younger I would try my hardest in anything I would do, I don't know if you remember," Shikamaru sighed and sat down on a bench, Ino following suit. "Sorry, no I don't remember."

He leaned back on the bench and looked up at the sky. "I would try my best in everything I would do…I am a genius you know. But no one ever gave me praise for what I did; they would just expect me to keep doing as good. So, I just gave up. And turned lazy."

Ino stared. "I see." _'So that's why he's so lazy.'_

There was a few moments of silence as Ino contemplated Shikamaru's words, but it was interrupted when Shikamaru said "Well?" in an impatient voice. "Well what?" Shikamaru rolled his eyes and looked right at Ino. "What are you missing?" he said in a slow deliberate voice.

"Oh. Umm….hehehe." Ino scratched her chin with one finger. "I'm…not sure." "Troublesome woman."

OoOoOoOoOoOo

Meanwhile, in the department store, Neji and TenTen had switched from 'tag' to Hide-And-Go-Seek. Currently it was TenTen who was hiding and Neji was seeking. TenTen had set down the rule that he couldn't use the Byakkugan but it was Neji who had pointed out that he was too young to activate it.

Neji peered around the corner of another aisle, looking for his little teammate. When he didn't immediately see her, he walked around the corner and began behind the cereal boxes and under the shelves. "I'll find you yet TenTen…I'm not _that_ reliant on the Byakkugan." He muttered out loud.

TenTen shifted in the clothes rack that she was hiding in, yawning. '_If Neji doesn't show up soon, I might just fall asleep…it's comfortable in here.'_

Neji completed searching the food products, finally, and turned his attention to the clothes section. "Well she has to be there, I've searched everywhere else." He scratched his forehead, the ribbons that TenTen provided, starting to itch.

Finally, when he was on the verge of giving up…he heard a soft snoring coming from inside a rack of coats and sweatpants. He looked up and smiled. "Found you." Pushing the coats aside, he found her curled up using the end of a coat for a pillow…fast asleep.

'_She looks so cute'_ thought Neji, with a small smile on his child-like face.

Looking furtively from side to side, he slipped into the coat rack with his teammate and curled up beside her, closing his eyes. He was asleep in moments.

OoOoOoOoOoOo

Naruto looked at the shelf in front of him. "It's so beautiful." His eyes were misty. "Umm...N-Naruto….i-it's just r-ramen…" said Hinata looking up at the shelves in front of them. "Yeah, I guess you're right Hinata. The homemade stuff isn't as good as the stuff Ichiraku makes. Come on, let's go back to play with the toys!"

Hinata was once again reduced to blushing when Naruto tangled her fingers into his and pulled her back to the toy section.

'_Attention shoppers…crackle 'our store is…'_ the intercom was interrupted by some crackling and, since he couldn't understand what the intercom was saying, Naruto ignored the voice and continued back to the toy section.

Back there, the two of them messed around for a couple hours, losing track of time...

Until half the lights in the store went out, plunging the two into half darkness.

Naruto got up and ran to the front of the store and tried the door. But it simply wouldn't give. "We're locked in…" he said slowly. Hinata came up behind him, a worried look in her pale eyes. "Wh-what are we going to do Naruto?"

"The only thing we can do Hinata," he got a wild look in his eyes and yelled, "Have fun while we have full control of the store!"

A crash from the clothes section interrupted his speech. The two raced over there to see what had happened…

And found little Neji and TenTen sitting up, rubbing their heads, with a rack of coats on it's side beside them.

A/N-There you go! The part with them getting locked in the store is actually from the original idea that MyNameIsKelsie13 gave to me.


	8. Chapter 8

A/N- Wow…over 150 reviews…you guys rock! Thanks to MyNameIsKelsie13, Iloveinuyasha44, Link Fangirl01, Kyuubi92, Julliette Fox, Kawaii chibi Sasuke luver, Animegurl9164, ohmgeeits cindee, Getemono, Joyness, tiffanylicis, Kyiri Makrono, windsoftiti, seguha, The Assasain of the Night, rebel-girl, Karen Trujillo, Scienceboy, daisuke-fan, I-have-issues-deal-with-it, kyleai, MaoAyanamipl, C.A.M.E.O.1 and Only, Duckichan87, Loku, Uchiha Amiee, Puppy444219, liandrin, Seyann, Hybrid thing, sakuE-chan, SaNdEr-ThE-rUbBeR-bAnDeR, anbd Dog of the Dead for reviewing. Wow. This story has 158 reviews...YATTA!

Read and Review!

Disclaimer-Paprika no own

Chapter 8

Kiba's clawed hand twitched as he watched puppy Akamaru chase a cat up a tree and stand at the bottom, yipping in his little voice.

Okay. He wanted to go chase cats with Akamaru…what was the problem with that? Well…other than the fact that his parents had always drawn the line at him doing that…

The cat made a flying leap out of the tree, obviously aimed at Kiba in hopes of refuge from the pursuing dog but Kiba caught the creature and dropped her like a hot potato. "Sorry puss. I'm on the side of the canines." Akamaru immediately set out after the cat, quickly vanishing around the corner.

"Hey Akamaru come back!" When he didn't reappear Kiba dropped to his hands and knees and leapt around the corner to find puppy Akamaru cornered by the cat and his friend.

'_Don't chase cats don't chase cats don't chase cats_,' he chanted in his head.

The only problem was…he really really really wanted to chase the cat. So he did. The Inuzuka leapt, still on all fours, to Akamaru's side. He growled at the cats and began to chase them with Akamaru at his side.

He did this for about an hour. By the time the cats finally managed to give hem the slip, his hands were rather raw and some of his nails were chipped. But he had had more fun than he had in ages…

Finally, he took Akamaru into his arms and set back onto his path towards Sakura's house…until Akamaru grew much heavier in his arms. He looked down and saw…. Akamaru as he had been before the potion.

Suddenly, Kiba's keen ears picked up a popping sound.

He put down Akamaru quickly as smoke appeared around him…

And Inuzuka Kiba was back.

OoOoOoOoOoOo

"Uzumaki? Hinata-Sama? What are you guys doing in here…" asked Neji carefully. "And why are half the lights in the stores off?" TenTen enquired.

"Well, we came in to the store about three hours ago to get out of the heat," said Naruto, finger on his chin, indicating he was thinking. "And then, we were playing in the toy section and we lost track of time."

"W-w-what about you Neji?" asked Hinata quietly. "We…ahh…." Neji didn't want to be the one to admit what had happened so he gave TenTen a jab and she spoke up. "We were playing hide and seek in the store," supplied TenTen. "I fell asleep in a rack of coats…and I guess that Neji found me and curled up with me…"

"Well, I think that we're stuck in here," said Naruto. "Astute observation Naruto," Neji said dryly. He turned to the others in the store and said "Look, just because we're looked in the store together doesn't mean we have to stick together."

"We could go girl with girl and guy with guy," offered TenTen. At this, both Hyuuga's gave her a look. Neji's read something like 'pleasepleaseplease don't put me with him' while Hinata's read 'please please please let me stay with Naruto', which surprised TenTen.

"Or we could go girl/guy…"

"That sounds like a good idea," said Neji firmly. Naruto, meanwhile, was looking back and forth between the three people, rather confused. "So Hinata and I are still together?" he asked. Hinata turned red at his phrasing and even redder when Naruto grabbed her hand and took off.

OoOoOoOoOoOo

When Hinata and Naruto finally came to a stop they were back in the ramen section. "N-N-Naruto, why did we come back h-here?" she asked. "Because I'm hungry Hinata," he said matter-of-factly. "Aren't you?"

"W-well…kind of…but h-how are we g-g-going to make it?" "I've done this before when…" Naruto went quiet and, for one time, serious.

"W-w-when Naruto?" asked Hinata softly, not sure she wanted to hear the answer. "When I was younger. I would make instant ramen, when I didn't have a kettle, by putting steaming hot water in the thing…it was close enough to boiling water."

"O-o-h." said Hinata quietly. "It actually tastes really good!" said Naruto as he picked out a couple flavors of instant Ramen.

As the two of them slurped down their ramen (well, Naruto slurped, Hinata daintily chewed) they talked.

"So Hinata, have you been thinking about what you were missing as a child?" asked Naruto softly. "N-N-Naruto…" Hinata took a deep breath and poked her index fingers together. "N-Naruto, I lied to you earlier…I'm sorry." Naruto stopped slurping his ramen and looked at her. "About what Hinata?"

"A-a-about what I was missing…" the Hyuuga heiress trailed off and gently set her styrofoam bowl on the bathroom counter-where they had filled the bowls with the hot water. Naruto too, surprisingly, put down his bowl and looked concertedly at Hinata.

"Y-y-you know how when N-N-Neji and I were children we-we were closer th-than we are now…" Naruto nodded and allowed the girl with the gray eyes to continue. "We-well…we would p-play together and…" as Hinata reminisced her eyes grew bright with tears and her stutter went away. "Neji and I would play together all the time. But then…Neji received the cursed seal…and that incident with my father and uncle Hizashi-yo-you know about it don't you?" her stutter returned momentarily as she came back to earth.

"I do," answered Naruto. "We-well…" Hinata started to cry, leaning into Naruto unconsciously as he wrapped his arms around her. "A-after that, that's when he started to hate me…and he never played with me again… and I think…I think I'm missing a proper relationship with my cousin…"

She cried into his shirtfront as Naruto rubbed her back comfortingly. As he held her, Naruto noticed just how nicely-even as children-Hinata fit into his arms. However, before he could get used to it, Hinata caught herself and, turning bright red, sat up and pulled out of his grasp.

"S-sorry Naruto," she said quietly, her eyes on the ground. "I shouldn't h-h-have bothered you with that." She leapt out off of the counter and hurried out the door, away from Naruto.

OoOoOoOoOoOo

Meanwhile, as this was going on, Neji and TenTen were in the toys, messing around. "So TenTen," started Neji, rather quietly. "We've figured out what I'm missing, now we need to figure out what you're missing."

TenTen's unbound brown hair curtained her face. "There was something…. everyone had that I don't…and it's always bugged me, even though I never really said anything. What I'm missing is…"

"Hey Neji, I need to talk to you." Naruto stood at the end of the aisle looking at the two sitting on the floor. The Hyuuga with the bandaged forehead looked at the blonde and said "I'm a little busy Uzumaki, what is it?" "It's about Hinata."

Neji was torn. He wanted to stay and talk to TenTen but his loyalty as a Hyuuga called him to ask Naruto what was wrong. "Go Neji," said TenTen softly. "I'll tell you when I get back."

"Make it quick Uzumaki."

"It's you. What Hinata's missing…it's you and the fact that your relationship deteriorated the way it did."

"What do you want me to do about it…" "Go and freaking tell her that you respect her! Or else I'll do it, I'll turn into you and do it." Naruto's fierce blue eyes bored into the Hyuuga's milky lavender ones.

OoOoOoOoOoOo

Hinata sat in the middle of a clothes rack. "Hinata-Sama?" she clearly recognized the voice of her cousin. She looked out and saw him standing there. "Would you like to play?"

A/N-But that leaves to question…who is it? Only I know the truth….Review!


	9. Chapter 9

A/N-Blink Blink as of right now, this story has 192 reviews. Thanks to Iloveinuyasha44, seguha, dog of the dead, tiffanylicis, windsoftiti, rebel-girl, scienceboy, puppy444219, misfortuned soul, Link Fangirl01, MaoAyanamipl, Kawaiibaka, ShadowSessMarlfox, C.A.M.E.O.1 and Only, Loku, kawaii chibi Sasuke luver, duckichan87, Seyann, Uchiha Rose, I-have-issues-deal-with-it, AzNAnGeL07, Karen Trujillo, narutofaves, Juliette Fox, LuvDaAlchemist, MeMe, SakuraUchiha4, liandrin, Getemono, Arabella Sparrow, Kawaiibaka10 (whom, I have a hunch, is related to Kawaiibaka), Cyberwing and SaNdEr-ThE-rUbBeR-bAnDeR . Read and Review!

Chapter 9

Shikamaru leaned back on Sakura's overstuffed sectional and looked at the stucco ceiling, arms slung over the back of said couch. Ino sat across from him in the recliner, posture similar, except she was staring at the reclining Shikamaru.

Not expecting him to speak, she was caught off guard when his voice pierced the silence. "So what are you missing Ino?"

When Ino didn't say anything, he looked at her. Upon seeing her shocked expression, he sighed. "Forget it," he muttered, followed by the predictable "Troublesome." "Well do you want to hear or not?" asked Ino.

Shikamaru snorted and continued his study of the ceiling. "I asked didn't I?"

"Well…" said the blonde Kunoichi slowly. "If it is absolutely necessary that you know…" her pale cheeks tinged lightly.

"If you say that you were missing the compassions of Uchiha Sasuke then I swear I'm going to laugh," drawled the lazy ninja. "Shika, you and I both know that you are too lazy to laugh," snarked the blonde. "Plus I don't like Sasuke anymore."

"Anyways," she continued, "I think what I was missing, when I was this age…well…you know how there are some instances, in kindergarten and the like, when the guys pick a girl…they don't want you to know that they like any of you. I, however, found out whom it was they liked…. it was Sakura. Not even that little pink billboard brow knew that all the guys had the hots for her. And…I think I was, even at that age, just a little jealous of her."

Shikamaru didn't say anything right after Ino finished, causing her to send an irritated look in his direction. "Ya know, when someone pours out their heart you're supposed to acknowledge them." When Shikamaru didn't respond, Ino deliberately stood up, grabbed the chair cushion out from under her, wound up…

And was interrupted when the doorknob rattled and Sakura, cursing, stumbled into the house. "Why, when I bought this house did I ever make the doorknobs that big."

Ino immediately dropped the pillow and turned to the front door. "Because, forehead girl, you didn't expect to be turned into a child."

Sakura looked further into the house, kicking off her shoes. "Hey Ino-pig you're still a kid? I thought you would've turned back by now!"

After the two girls had sat down and went through what they had done that day they managed to sort out who was still children. Them, of course, and Shikamaru. Sakura confirmed for the other two that Sasuke was (when she had last seen him) a child. Ino confirmed Kiba (having seen him before making it back to Sakura's) and Shino. Naruto, Hinata, Neji, TenTen and Lee were assumed turned back because they hadn't shown up back at Sakura's house.

OoOoOoOoOoOo

"N-N-Naruto?" said Hinata quietly. The little boy with the ribbons wrapped around his forehead who stood in front of her rolled his hazy violet eyes. "Hinata-Sama, I don't know what you're talking about."

"B-b-b-but I only told N-N-Naruto…" the person standing in front of her, who could've been either Naruto or Neji waved this off and said, "I have my ways of finding things out, believe me. Now, Hinata-Sama, would you like to play…thumb war?"

Hinata's light eyes lit up. "I-I-I haven't played that since…." Neji came and sat beside her. "Since the day before I got this?"

Slowly Neji reached up and unwound the ribbons from around his head. As they fell away, Hinata could see beneath it, the cursed seal of the Hyuuga clan. That's when she knew.

The boy sitting beside her was indeed her cousin. Only he knew about her secret love of thumb wars. And Naruto couldn't replicate the seal design, having only seen it several times. After Hinata had seen this and had confirmed that it was indeed her cousin, he picked up TenTen's ribbons and wrapped them back around the seal.

"So, Hinata-Sama. Now that you know it is indeed me…shall we?"

Neji held out his hand, as if he was going to shake hers. Hinata held hers out similarly. The two pairs of blank eyes met…their mouths opened simultaneously….

"1…" they said together. "2.. 3..4.. I declare a thumb war…fight!"

OoOoOoOoOoOo

Naruto was bored.

Never, have so dangerous words ever been uttered in the English language.

Hinata being with her cousin left him alone…he didn't really know TenTen and so he was left by himself…in the toy section…extremely bored. His innocent blue eyes took in the massive shelves and there was a toy…at the very top that he wanted to play with.

Taking in the metal shelves that had toys stacked on them, he couldn't help but think…the way they were situated, well, it looked an awful lot like a ladder. He reached his childlike hand up to grip the cool metal. When the bottom shelf supported his weight he thought _'Well…that was easier than I expected.'_ Two shelves later and he was almost there. He reached his arm out as far as he could…

And closed his fingers around the metal slinky. Just at that moment…he felt his right foot slip…

OoOoOoOoOoOo

Sasuke shoveled the casserole that Kayko had made into his mouth at an alarming rate. Kayko, and her husband Tatsuma, started at him subtly, looking back down at their own plates when he looked up. "What?" he asked as he scooped a tomato slice off of the plate. "Kayko-San, this is one of the best meals I've had in a while."

When Tatsuma had come home and had discovered that his wife had picked up an orphaned child on the way home form the grocery store…

He had gotten his baseball glove that he had been given as a kid as well as his own and did what he had been dying to do. Play catch with a little boy.

It had taken awhile before Sasuke had caught onto the idea, but once he had he had had more fun than ever. Showing it in small bits and pieces of course.

"Thank you very much for the meal Kayko-san." Kayko nodded and said, "Glad you like tomato soup so much. Ummm…do you have a place to stay tonight? Because if you don't…"

Sasuke shook his head. "No…I've already imposed too much on both you and your husband… I do have a home to go to…"

Kayko decided that she wasn't going to take no for an answer, however. "You haven't imposed on us a bit, and…" Kayko squinted at Sasuke's face. "You look so pale, like you haven't had a decent night sleep in a long long time. The mattress in the spare room is a feather bed…"

He really had to get back to Sakura's to let them know he was still a chibi. He really….

Did she just say a featherbed?

A/N-Hey!. Everyone, read the story 'Escape of the Kyuubi' and the one-shots that go with it 'Behind the Scenes' by Kyuubi 92. It's a great series! And READ AND REVIEW!...

And for those of you who care...there will be a sequal to WRBB. That is all.


	10. Chapter 10

A/N-This is so cool…I have a story, less than 10 chapters…and it has more than 200 reviews…at this rate, the amount of reviews I get for this story might surpass the amount of reviews I got for When Reality Becomes Blurred…thanks to those who reviewed the last chapter- windsoftiti, AznAnGeL07, Uchiha Aimee, maniackiller12, puppy444219, sequha, wolf of the snows, Sakura-cherryblossom93, Animegurl9164, iamNOTafangirl3221, liandrin, scienceboy, kawaii chibi Sasuke luver, rebel-girl, elwing59, Arabella Sparrow, C.A.M.E.O.1 and Only, Dog of the Dead, Karen Trujillo, tiffanylicis, Iloveinuyasha44, narutofaves, MeMe, blackpelt7, duckichan87, Sarah Rebecca, Link Fangirl01, kawaiibaka10, Seyann, LuvDaAlchemist and frienz4ever. Read and Review!

Disclaimer-I don't own Naruto

Chapter 10

After dinner was over, Sasuke had started to feel the effects of his long, anxiety ridden (well, at least, at first) day. This was demonstrated when, while still sitting at the table, his obsidian eyes had slowly slid closed and his body had leaned forward slightly, and he had awoken to Kayko and Tatsuma staring at him, Kayko giggling silently. "Tired are you? Come on then, let's get you to bed." Sasuke nodded and, pulling himself up, picked up his plate and walked it over to the sink before taking the hand that Kayko offered.

"Are you sure I'm not imposing on you two?" Kayko continued to rummage in her cupboard, pulling out a large blanket. "Where," she said, "does a child your age learn a word like 'imposing'?" She turned back to Sasuke, duvet draped over one arm. "I'm sure."

Again he was struck by how much her green eyes looked like Sakura's.

That was probably just because he was tired. However, when the face of the pink haired girl flashed in his mind again, he wondered if it was more than just exhaustion.

Kayko wrapped the warm down duvet around Sasuke's body as he sank into the comfortable featherbed. "Are you sure you're going to be okay?"

A strange look was on Sasuke's face as the woman finished tucking her in…. it was something akin to pure bliss…and it looked very out of place on the normally stoic boy. "I'm fine Kayko-San." Already, even as the black haired woman turned off the lamp beside the bed, she saw that the raven-haired boy was already drifting off.

"Good night Kyo-Chan," she said softly.

OoOoOoOoOoOo

Naruto struggled to regain his footing on the shelves, his precious slinky clutched in one hand. As he managed to place the foot that had slipped onto the shelf, he felt said shelf slip backwards, falling towards his weight. Naruto leaned forward to compensate and balance the shelf and succeeded in maintaining his footing…for now.

From his perch he could see Hinata and Neji playing something…and he smiled at the sight.

OoOoOoOoOoOo

Her large pale eyes were narrowed with concentration. There was a strategy…she knew there was….

Then…she dove. "P-p-p-piggy piggy one two three….I win!" Hinata exclaimed in victory as she successfully pinned her cousin's thumb under her own. Gently, she removed her hand from the thumb war position and smiled softly at her cousin.

"T-t-thanks for playing with me Neji," She said to her cousin quietly. Neji moved from his position in front of her to sitting beside her, cross-legged, as she was. "Hinata-Sama…" he started in a quiet voice. "I never apologized to you the way I should've. After all that happened…with our clan. And beating you so severely in the chunnin exams."

Hinata looked over at him with her child-like eyes, eyes that were wide with shock. "W-w-w-what do you mean Neji?" she asked, caught off guard.

Neji sighed and propped up his chin via his hand, resting his elbow on his knee. "What I mean, Hinata-Sama," he said, choosing his words carefully. "Is that I'm sorry…for the way I treated you. You know, after that whole ordeal with my father and your father…" Neji sighed. "And even though I haven't said it openly, I do respect you. A lot. You've grown since the chunnin exams."

These words resonated in Hinata's mind, rattling around. As the meaning finally sank in, her face split into a shining smile and she wrapped her arms tightly around her cousin's neck, causing him to stiffen up. Eventually, however, he relaxed and allowed his younger cousin to hug him.

OoOoOoOoOoOo

TenTen fiddled with a set of children's kunai that she had taken out of the package and was using for target practice. When she was a child, she had always wanted a select of kunai's such as these-the life of a Kunoichi had always fascinated her.

Her parents had, however, had different ideas. They wanted their only daughter to be a prim little girl, almost something like a porcelain doll.

When she saw her first Kunoichi in battle-on the day her parents died in an attack on Konoha- even though some people told her that she should respect her parent's wishes and not…

She did. A year later, when she was old enough she joined the academy and started down the path of becoming a Kunoichi.

So, since she had fulfilled one of two great childhood dreams she had had, the one left was what she was missing….

And that was…

Before she could finish her musings however, she was startled from behind by a loud 'CRASH'. She turned around…

The shelf falling towards her was the last thing she saw.

OoOoOoOoOoOo

In retrospect, if he had been smart and had let go of the slinky as to use both hands he probably wouldn't have fallen. But then again people, this is Uzumaki Naruto we speak of…

Therefore he did not release the slinky. He, contrarily, clutched the coil of metal as though it was his only lifeline and let out a very feminine scream as the shelf fell towards him. Of course it didn't' help that it knocked over the shelf beside it which knocked over the shelf after that one and so on and so forth-domino effect.

And he lay pinned down underneath the first one.

OoOoOoOoOoOo

As soon as they heard the crash of the shelves from where they were sitting, the two Hyuuga's leapt up and ran across the store.

Just before Hinata began calling out for Naruto, she thought she heard a popping sound, but in her haste, ignored it. What surprised her was when Neji began to search frantically…

For TenTen. This caused Hinata a slight distraction as she watched her cousin frantically search for his teammate, until she heard Naruto call out, casing her to resume her frantic search.

She found him pinned down under a shelf, in relatively good shape. He had a few cuts on his face, but had been fortunate enough to land on a large plush frog.

In his hand he clutched a slinky.

"H-h-here N-Naruto let me help you," said Hinata as she started to struggle with the shelving unit. To her surprise the unit moved relatively easy, and Naruto scrambled out from under. "Thanks Hinata…I thought I was a goner…" he paused and looked at her.

"Hey, when did your transformation reverse?" Hinata looked at him, stunned. Then she looked down at her hands, which were no longer child like. "I-I-I don't know Naruto…" she said softly. She was about to say something else, when Neji let out a yell. They could hear the shelving units strain as the little Hyuuga began to attempt moving them.

Little Naruto and Hinata ran over to where Neji was franticly tearing at the metal. Pinned beneath the shelf in question…

Was TenTen. And she wasn't moving.

A/N-Hope you guys enjoyed this chapter...Read and Review! and Gomen for the cliffie.


	11. Chapter 11

A/N-Thanks to those who reviewed the last chapter: tiffanylicis, blackpelt7, C.A.M.E.O.1 and Only, maniackiller12, smileforme x3, Seyann, Karen Trujillo, Nuttythegothicsquirrel, cyberwing, redsoul, AzNAnGeL07, Dog of the Dead, windsoftiti, liandrin, X-275 Strike Fisha, Uchiha Aimee, lanie-chan, seguha, elwing59, Sarah Rebecca, ShiokuXRose, Iloveinuyasha44, puppy444219, iamNOTafangirl3221, rebel-girl, Link Fangirl01, Getemono, I-have-issues-deal-with-it, mechman123, duckichan87, Twilight Dragoness, Kawaiibaka10, confuzzled239, luvdaalchemist and SaNdEr-ThE-rUbBeR-bAnDeR. Read and Review!

Disclaimer-I don't own Naruto

Chapter 11

For a moment, neither Hinata nor Naruto moved, the only sound being Neji's small hands still tearing at the metal shelves. "I swear Uzumaki," said Neji, teeth gritted as he worked. "You'd better hope she wakes up. Because if she doesn't…"

He didn't finish his sentence but it was implied…Naruto would be as good as dead.

Finally, Hinata was shaken out of her shock at seeing the tomboy Kunoichi rendered so helpless and she helped her cousin, lifting the shelf as best she could, allowing Neji and Naruto to drag Tenten's body out from the precarious position it lay in.

Out in the open air, she looked even paler than she had lying under the shelving; and was lying still as death.

Neji reached out a shaking-yes, shaking- hand, allowing the tips of his fingers to brush against her pulse point at her throat.

His entire body visibly relaxed when he felt the steady thrumming beneath his fingertips and beneath Tenten's soft skin.

"She's alive," he breathed to the other two.

Even as he said that, her brown eyes fluttered and opened. She coughed, a hacking cough to clear the fluid out of her lungs, before sitting up and breathing heavily. The first thing she saw, when she had completely recovered her senses was the milky white eyes of Hyuuga Neji. She colored slightly-which actually made her look less pale-and say "Wh..What happened?"

Neji snorted quietly. "Uzumaki happened. He knocked over the shelves and…one landed on you." Tenten groaned and sat up.

"Are…. are you okay Tenten?" asked Naruto uncertainly. Tenten glanced over towards the blond haired blue eyed, pain and annoyance in her glance. "What do you think?"

Now that Tenten was obviously going to survive her 'ordeal'…Neji turned to Naruto and ripped into him.

"How could you have been so inanely stupid as to risk your life for that piece of metal junk?" demanded the Hyuuga. "And not only that, you put other people's lives in danger merely….I'll bet, merely because you thought it looked shiny."

None of them had ever seen Neji so angry-his child like eyes flashed. And what made it worse for Naruto was that Tenten looked at him with equal anger, as she brushed the dust off of her clothes. "Jeez Naruto, next time don't try to kill me."

Maybe it was the fact that he had been a child for almost 24 hours now. But whatever it was his emotions…. well, let's just say that he was a little more sensitive than he would've been normally. His blue eyes watered and he looked to the ground like a chastened child, muttering, "Sorry Tenten." He turned on his heel and walked off into the store.

"Yo-you know, maybe you tw-two were too hard on him…" said Hinata quietly, shooting both her cousin and his teammate as close to a glare as she could manage, before going after the little blonde boy.

Neji and Tenten watched the two of them go off, Hinata's last remark sticking with them somewhat. "Maybe she…"

'_is right'_ is what she was going to say, however a mechanical beep interrupted her.

Groaning, Tenten dug into her pocket and pulled out a small mechanical handheld device. "Great it must've restarted when the shelf fell on me. Now I'll have to reset the time and the date…"

Neji's eyebrow twitched. "You had a cell phone this entire time?" Tenten looked up at the Hyuuga, pushing some of her brown hair out of her eyes to see his face better. "Yeah…I decided to get one last year in case of emergencies…"

"And you didn't see the fact that you had one as important before because?" he asked his annoyance clearly showing through.

OoOoOoOoOoOo

The three who were currently at the Haruno residence weren't doing anything except sitting around staring at each other…. unless you counted Shikamaru's sleeping as something. Finally, Sakura opened her mouth to say something to Ino…

And the phone rang.

Shikamaru cracked a black eye lazily. "Will someone get that so I can go back to sleep."

The pink haired girl hopped off of her seat and reached for the receiver. "Haruno residence," she said, trying to make herself sound as old as she could. _"Sakura?"_ "Tenten is that you? Where are you? What are you?"

Sakura heard Tenten laugh at what she had just said. _"We're fine for the most part…I mean Naruto and I were in an accident…"_ "Naruto's there too?" _"Yes, Naruto, Neji, Hinata and I are all here."_ "Where is here, exactly."

"_The Konoha Department Store." _"Seriously?"_ "Yeah…Sakura you do know how much security they have on this place after closing."_ "Yes I do." Sakura sighed.

By this point, Sakura had, at least, attracted the attention of Ino with her words and Shikamaru was soon up to see what the fuss was about. "_Sakura we've gotta get out of here before tomorrow morning."_ "Okay Tenten…you and everybody else sit tight. We'll….figure something out. By the way, how many of you are still…"_ "I am. Neji is. Hinata turned back and Naruto hasn't. About Naruto…is there anything in that book that says exceptions about what happens to demon vessels after taking that potion?"_ "I think I might've read something about it…hold on."

Sakura looked around the kitchen and found the book on the floor where she had abandoned it earlier. "Demon vessels…demon vessels, demon vessels…." She scanned the page. "Here it is. If the person who ingests the botched version is a demon vessel, well then….until they figure out what they're missing they will act more and more childish…and will continue to do so until they turn back." _"We've already seen that starting. Okay…Sakura, hurry. I don't think we'll be able to take the insanity of being locked in here for much longer."_

Sakura laughed. "Okay Tenten. We'll work on something."

Hanging up the phone she turned back to the blonde one and the lazy one. "Now what?" she asked, all traces of laughter gone from her countenance.

OoOoOoOoOoOo

"N-Naruto wait!" called Hinata as she tried to catch up with the little boy. "It's sniff always been like that," he said softly. "People chew me out….and they don't even let me explain that it was an accident. They just scold me…"

'_And you always had to deal with that alone?'_ she thought to herself. Just then, in that moment, she had a thought flash. _'Maybe…just maybe…he needs to be comforted.'_

By this time, Naruto had stopped and was sitting on a lower shelf. "I just wanted the slinky…" he murmured softly before his blue eyes filled with tears and he buried his face in his hands. Hinata slipped down beside him…and did something that would normally cause her to flame red but in this case was merely a comforting gesture not a romantic one.

She slipped both of her arms around him and held him as he cried. A soft white hand rubbed his back as his body shuddered with sobs and her quiet voice spoke soft assurances.

Eventually his sobs subsided and he was left just in her arms. They stayed like that for a few moments, Hinata comforting Naruto.

Suddenly, they both heard a popping sound…and Naruto turned back to normal in Hinata's arms…causing the Hyuuga too, after a moment, turn bright red and faint.

OoOoOoOoOoOo

"While we wait," said Neji, striking up a conversation. "Just out of curiosity, you never mentioned exactly what it was that you were missing. Care to tell me?"

Tenten flushed. "I didn't want to have to tell you this. I wanted to fix it on my own without your help."

She sighed. "When we were all young, I seemed to have the most together. But I was jealous of all of you….because…" she cast her brown eyes to the ground.

"Promise me you won't laugh Hyuuga Neji." The brown haired boy nodded and looked at his teammate seriously. "I promise."

"I'm missing a last name."

A/N-LOL! Hope you enjoyed this chapter, read and review! I just posted a one-shot drabble about team 7 called 'Broken' please R&R that one too...:)


	12. Chapter 12

A/N-We've passed 300 reviews people! Thanks to…redsoul, liandrin, Song of the Storm, runwithskizzers, Gaararocksyay, Iloveinuyasha44, Princess Aiyana, puppylovercutie, crescent moon at midnight, seguha, Sarah Rebecca, Narutofaves, AzNAnGeL07, I-have-issues-deal-with-it, iamNOTafangirl3221, LuvDaAlchemist, tiffanylicis, Green Animelover, Puppy44219, windsoftiti, ShiokuXRose, Animegurl9164, xelagirl2, C.A.M.E.O1 and Only, Confuzzled 239, SaNdEr-ThE-rUbBeR-bAnDeR, lanie-chan, elwing59, rebel-girl, Evil Kirby, Seyann, duckichan87, Twilight Dragoness, Karen Trujillo, SoraKoi The Water Goddess, Link Fangirl01, kawaii chibi Sasuke luver, andX-275 Strike Fisha for reviewing! And you must Read and Review!

Disclaimer-I don't own Naruto.

Chapter 12

The normally stoic face twitched. His mouth, which was normally, a straight line twitched into a smirk and gradually a smile. A low rumble of a chuckle was heard and something happened that very rarely occurred…Hyuuga Neji laughed. A full belly laugh. Tears formed in his eyes but he made no effort to wipe them away.

Tenten colored angrily and she stood up, tears glittering in her eyes. When Neji saw this he made an attempt to stop laughing but the damage had been done and Tenten was ticked off. "You promised you wouldn't laugh Hyuuga," she hissed, the tears in her eyes threatening to spill over. "Forget it, I never should've told you!" Her brown hair whipped her face as she turned and stalked away.

"Wai…Tenten wait!" The indignant brown haired girl had gotten three aisles over before Neji was able to catch up with her. She refused to look at him, instead focusing on the sheets in front of her. "Tenten, wait…Tenten!" Neji, finally in an effort to make her stop took her hand and forced her to turn around to look at him.

Her brown eyes were filled completely with tears but Neji couldn't determine whether or not they were hurt tears or angry tears for her face wore an expression of anger. "Why do you think I didn't tell anyone all these years that I was jealous about my lack of surname? Everyone would laugh at me. Just like you did!" Neji sighed and laid a hand on Tenten's shoulder, pulling away reluctantly when she shook it off.

"Look Tenten I'm sorry I laughed. Really, I am. I…what I was laughing at, really, wasn't the fact that you don't have a last name." When Tenten gave him a dubious look he held up his hands, palms out in front of him. "Really. I'm serious."

Tenten sighed, defeated. "Then why did you laugh?" They had wound up in the bedding section and as such both sat down, sinking into the pillow display. Neji looked at her intently. "Because. While everyone else has something complicated that they need to fix…yours is the easiest thing in the world."

"How am I going to get a last name Neji?" Tenten asked, rather annoyed. "Do you expect to just make one up? You can't do that!" Neji chucked again, this time rather dryly. "I can think of a solution that is much less complicated than that. I've actually been meaning to do this for a while."

Chibi Neji struggled to his feet from the pillows. Turning around so that he faced Tenten, he picked up her hand in his own and knelt on the floor. "You're missing a last name…then become a Hyuuga. Marry me Tenten."

OoOoOoOoOoOo

"So…what are we going to do? About Neji and them I mean," asked Ino as she lay on the couch. "I don't know?" exclaimed Sakura. "That place…okay. It has a laser jutsu in place, a laser powerful enough to cut through diamond. The door is rigged so that if you touch it you get a giant electrical shock. Don't even get me started on the surveillance system…"

"That entire system…" said a lazy voice from the couch. "Is based on smoke, mirrors and word of mouth. And that's exactly what the manager is counting on. The only thing that's real is the jutsu with the electric shock and even then, it's not that bad." The two girls looked over at Shikamaru. "I was bored one day and sitting on the bench outside the department store…I watched the manager activate the system. It's only one jutsu."

The two girls waited impatiently. "Well are you going to tell us how we can break through it."

"It'd be too troublesome." Ino threw a pillow at Shikamaru's head and yelled "Tell us you lazy bum," in an angry voice.

"Fine fine," he pushed the pillow to the ground and put his hands behind his head. "We can't break the jutsu. It's time activated-turns itself off at the same time each morning, at around 8. At that same time the manager is coming towards the store. What we need to do is you two need to cause a distraction and, as soon as the jutsu is broken for the day, I'll open the door and let them out. It's 12 AM now… Sakura do you have an alarm that will wake us up at around 7:30 AM so that we can actually get there on time and still get some sleep?"

Sakura nodded dumfounded and went upstairs, returning with her little pink alarm clock. She set it for 7:15 and the three of them curled up to sleep.

Except Ino didn't. She stared at Shikamaru and remembered what he had said he was missing.

Flashback

"Praise." She turned to look at him, an odd look on her face.

End Flashback

She went on to remember about how he had told her no one had praised him as a child. 'I'll make a mental note to praise him about his plan tomorrow,' she thought as she drifted off to sleep.

OoOoOoOoOoOo

Tenten stared at Neji; brown eyes wide open with shock. Her hand, the one in his, trembled like a leaf. "Are…. you serious Neji?" she squeaked. "Because if you're just making fun of my situation it's not funny… And I highly doubt that the little weddings that children preform for each other will count to reverse this potion..."

"Believe me, making fun of the fact that you don't have a last name is the farthest thing from my mind right now Tenten. As I said, I've wanted to do this for awhile. And please don't dismiss it as just a little kids thing. I truly do want to marry you. And if all goes as planned, when we get married as children...it will be for real. And it will count." "But…but…" Tenten sputtered, "We've never even dated…and you've told me numerous times that…"

"…I think dating is stupid. And I still do…. but look at it this way. It is, if you've already found the person that you are absolutely sure you're going to spend the rest of your life with." Tenten's eyes opened to an almost impossible width. "How long…"

"For about a year," he said. "That's when dating became pointless to me." A blush and a smile spread over Tenten's face but it was soon quelled when she thought of something. "For me to turn back I'd actually have to get the last name. No one is going to marry a pair of six year olds. We could go to Tsunade but then she would find out that Sakura gave us the tripped out potion and…"

"Again, it's not so complicated because, as I said, I have a way that would make it official without going to Tsunade. Since I'm a Hyuuga and Hinata is the heir of the Hyuuga bloodline she can perform the wedding in the ceremonial Hyuuga fashion. We could get married right now and all we would have to get is Hiashi-Sama's permission to make it legal, once we turn back of course."

Tenten had run out of arguments. That left only for her to say… "Yes. Yes, Neji I will marry you…thank you." Neji stood up and leaned in, taking his fiancée into his arms. Their faces were leaning closer and closer until….

"Hey guys, I need a hand. Hinata fainted." The two looked to where a full-grown Naruto was carrying Hinata bridal style. "Oh, hang on I have some smelling salts in my pocket," sighed Neji.

He pulled out a small white stick and waved it under his cousin's nose. "Why do you have those?" enquired Tenten softly as Hinata's eyelids fluttered. "Because," Explained Neji patiently, "Hinata always faints at least once around Naruto I didn't think that today would be an exception."

It took a few minutes but eventually they got the Hyuuga heir back up and conscious.

Only to have her almost pass out again when she heard what Neji and Tenten had planned. "Bu-but Neji, if I marry you without father's consent…"

"Hinata-Sama, Hiashi-Sama is not long for this world. I know that, you know that, even Hiashi knows that. I know he's already begun training you on the tasks of the Hyuuga leader. This will be a good training exercise."

"We-well then, I will ask the traditional q-question…H-Hyuuga Neji, why do you want this woman as your wife?"

"For two reasons." Neji had been rehearsing this in his head for when Hinata asked him. "Because I have fallen for her and have been wanting to ask her for awhile. Secondly, a situation has become apparent to me that calls for the marriage to be preformed immediately."

Hinata nodded slowly. "A-a-are you sure you want this Tenten?" she asked, turning to her friend. "I'm sure Hinata." "O-okay, I agree to perform this match. Neji, go off with Naruto to prepare yourself and I will help Tenten prepare. B-because this will b-be as close as we can get to a real ceremony and i-it will be official…y-you might want to pick a nice dress to wear Tenten…come on I'll help you. Plus I-I need to find appropriate robes."

A/N- To all those who thought that Neji wasn't going to ask Tenten to marry him….HEHEHE! Read and Review!


	13. Chapter 13

A/N-Thanks to those who reviewed the last chapter-AzNAnGeL07, Sarah Rebecca, tiffanylicis, bunnyandpuppylovercutie, Link Fangirl01, C.A.M.E.O.1 and Only, Confuzzled239, mysticwaterfall, redsoul, windsoftiti, i-have-issues-deal-with-it, rebel-girl, Song of the Storm, SakuraUchiha4, Icecreame Skittles Addict, LuvDaAlchemist, iamNOTafangirl3221, seguha, Iloveinuyasha44, liandrin, Merridaine, Kawaii chibi sasuke luver, Seyann, X-275 Strike Fisha, Yuki Akira, goyankeesbooredsox, Dog of the Dead, SaNdEr-ThE-rUbBeR-bAnDeR, Twilight Dragoness, Kyuichi, Mimi, anonimus, Puppy444219, Kanre, Green animelover, Duckichan87 and dragen95. READ AND REVIEW!!!!!!

Disclaimer-I don't own Naruto

Chapter 13

Tenten took a shaky breath and looked in the mirror. A makeshift dressing room had been hastily constructed from blankets and random things found around the store that could be used to support the structure.

Hinata had helped her with her makeup, using light tones to contrast her dark eyes. Her hair (which had been down as Neji had been using her ribbons) had been graced with a gentle curl that caused the light brown hair to frame her face. In the children's clothing section, Hinata had found a beautiful white gown that fit Tenten perfectly, a silk piece that went down to the floor. It clung to her body from her shoulders, where it was short sleeved, and flared out at the waist. It was the kind of dress that a child got to wear to important ceremonies.

And this certainly was important. Tenten would've never imagined, not in a million years that she would get married while turned temporarily into a six year old, trapped in a department store. _But_…Neji was how she pictured the man she wanted to marry.

And no, she wasn't just saying that because she loved him.

The flap of her makeshift tent opened and Hinata poked her head in. "Tenten. It's almost time. We have to be finished this so that when Sakura and them come to rescue us we'll be ready for them." The stutter in her friend's voice was completely gone. She was dressed in plain flowing robes- as close as Hinata could get to the Hyuuga robes. "Hinata you're so different…"

As soon as the Hyuuga-to-be pointed this out, Hinata was reduced to her normal self. "I-I-I don't know w-w-what you mean…" she muttered. Tenten smiled softly. It was clear that, while the Hyuuga could be ceremonial and lose the stutter, it was clear these moments were few and far between and only when necessary.

Hinata left to go to her place. Naruto then came in and offered Tenten his arm. "In place of your father," he said quietly. Tenten nodded and took his elbow.

OoOoOoOoOoOo

Neji was standing at the front near a makeshift alter. His attire was similar to Hinata's except his robes were black. When he saw Tenten coming around the corner on Naruto's arm, she took his breath away. She was beautiful…the way Hinata had done her makeup and hair magnified her beauty in a way that Neji found almost impossible to describe.

Oh, and he could tell even from a distance that she was blushing-which made her look even cuter.

Naruto brought her forward and, removing his own hand placed Neji's hand in the crook of Tenten's elbow.

"Today we are here to celebrate the union between Hyuuga Neji and Tenten," began Hinata, with no trace of a stutter in her voice. "Marriage is a sacred union of two coming together to be one. Here we have two who wish to become one. If anyone has a reason why they should not come together to be one, please say so now or forever hold your peace."

When, of course, none spoke up, Hinata continued. "Very well. As a Hyuuga, you must, Neji, always bring honor to the clan. What of this marriage creates that honor?" "My Lady, this woman is my teammate. She is one I cherish and one whom I know will bring no dishonor to our clan. She is a powerful Kunoichi and will bring honor to our clan. She…" Hinata held up her hand to stop her cousin from speaking anymore.

"I have heard enough. These are reasonable, however, Tenten why do you want to marry into the Hyuuga family?" Tenten thought about this. "It's not so much that I want to marry into the Hyuuga family specifically. Hyuuga just happens to be the last name of the man I fell in love with. And I know it seems a little odd to be referring to us as 'man' and 'woman' when we look like a six year old…but it's true," she smiled.

"Very well then. Neji, your cursed seal needs to be revealed for this part, the vows." Neji nodded and, reaching up, unwound his 'bandages'. When Tenten saw the cursed seal for the first time she winced. It covered his entire forehead and was a faded green color-unnatural.

But as opposed to other times, Neji didn't flinch to have her see his cursed seal. Instead he merely picked her hand back up and faced his cousin. "Repeat after me. 'I, Hyuuga Neji…'" "I, Hyuuga Neji," " 'take thee, Tenten,'" "Take thee Tenten," " 'To be my lawful wedded wife.'" "To be my lawful wedded wife."

Tenten repeated the process on Hinata's cue. After that, Hinata asked them if they would cherish the other 'in sickness and in health, in life and in death, in war and in famine, for better or for worse, for as long as they both should live' and both repeated that they would.

"I now pronounce you man and wife. However, before you can kiss the bride, something must be done. Tenten, you need not take the curse seal, however, you do need to swear loyalties. Therefore," Tenten straightened.

"Tenten. This day, you take the name of the Hyuuga. Do you promise to honor this name until the day you die, and are you willing to die to defend it?" "I solemnly swear that I will never let anything done by my hand or that of my children besmirch the honorable name of Hyuuga."

Hinata nodded. "In the eyes of the head Hyuuga," she said, in keeping with tradition, "This answer is acceptable. You may kiss your bride."

As the lips of the two six year olds shyly touched, a slight popping noise was heard. Simultaneously and without breaking contact, Neji and Tenten both turned back into their normal sizes.

OoOoOoOoOoOo

BEEP. That noise was troublesome. BEEP. Why wasn't someone shutting it up so he could sleep. BEEP. Oh right. The plan. Why did he have to speak up in the first place?

Shikamaru dragged himself off of the couch and stared at the two girls who were curled up into a ball on the couch near him. "Girls," he nudged them. "Troublesome…Girls!" Finally Ino stirred. "Time to go put the plan into action."

After a quick breakfast and some serious coffeeage on Sakura's part (hey, even if she was 6, didn't make her immune to coffee's call), they finally got going.

After about 10 minutes of quick walking and a lot of nagging to walk faster on Ino's part to Shikamaru, they arrived at the park. Just in the distance, a figure was visible, walking towards them. The shop owner. "Okay, Shikamaru, you take Ino and run ahead. I'll distract him for long enough so that you can get them out of there." The other two nodded and were gone.

Sakura plopped down on the bench and began to furiously rub her eyes. When they were red enough, she summoned up a sad thought and immediately her eyes welled up with tears. She ran her fingers through her hair a couple times making sure it looked messy…time to put the plan in motion.

By the time the shop owner reached the bench, there was a completely distraught girl sitting there. She was sobbing, her hair was slightly matted and her eyes were red rimmed. "Wha-What's wrong?" said the shop owner, worriedly as he stopped to kneel by the little girl.

"My-'hic' –my father and my mother had a fight yesterday…and I think it-hic-might be because…. because…" Sakura crumpled her face to just the right degree.

"Because of me!!!!!!" she wailed. The shopkeeper gasped and sat down next to the little girl. Who immediately turned into him and began to cry even harder.

"It's alright…" he comforted. "I don't think that they're fighting because of you. The same thing happened to me…and it wasn't because of me. Sometimes mommies and daddies just have problems," Sakura pretended not to have heard him and continued to cry. And instead of going to his store to open, he stayed to comfort the little girl.

'Fake tears,' thought Sakura, just slightly smugly. 'Works like a charm, every time.'

A/N-yeah….Neji-Tenten fluff with the wedding. Hope you enjoyed, read and review!!!!!!


	14. Chapter 14

A/N-Thanks to those who reviewed the last chapter-Cunning Angel, Animegurl9164, C.A.M.E.I.1 and Only, Confuzzled239, redsoul, xelagirl2, Blondes-4-naruto, Song of the Storm, bunnyandpuppylover, AzNAnGeL07, Uchiha Aimee, Sarah Rebecca, Dog of the Dead, Youko-Kuramas-Kitsune, Loafery, iamNOTafangirl3221, rebel-girl, seguha, SakuraUchiha4, tiffanylicis, Iloveinuyasha44, liandrin, duckichan87, LuvDaAlchemist, windsoftiti, elwing59, Seyann, kawaii chibi sasuke luver, i-have-issues-deal-with-it, Link Fangirl01, Shinigami-Koneko, puppy444219, Twilight Dragoness, SaNdEr-ThE-rUbBeR-bAnDeR, and Bishieluver01. Feel free to flog me for the late update...read and review!

Disclaimer-I don't own Naruto

Chapter 14

Ino and Shikamaru stood in front of the department store waiting. The only problem was, Ino didn't know what they were waiting for. They had heard Sakura's wail from the park a couple blocks down and knew that the storeowner would've stopped to comfort her…and now all they had to do was wait for…

"What are we waiting for exactly, Shikamaru?" Shikamaru sighed and squatted down, placing the tips of his fingers together, forming an O with his hands. "Explaining," he stated, "would be…" "Too troublesome," Ino droned, in an almost perfect imitation of her teammate. "Come on Shika. If I don't know the plan how can I help?"

Shikamaru sighed. And then sat down in front of the door, gesturing for Ino to do the same. The blonde plopped down and gestured for him to continue to speak. "Okay. The plan…" Ino leaned forward to hear. "Is almost completed." Ino fell over at his words. "What do you mean?" "We've successfully distracted the store owner-Sakura took care of that…all we have to wait for is the alarm jutsu to turn off and that should happen…."

With a barely audible click, the door swung outwards. It was a barely noticeable difference…but since Shikamaru had predicted that it was going to happen…she noticed it. Shikamaru stood up and offered Ino a hand. "Come on, we've got to go find the people inside,"

"Thanks." She took his hand and hefted herself to her feet. "And Shikamaru?"

The Chunnin turned child looked at her, only one eye showing. "That was a really good job…thinking up the plan."

Shikamaru grunted and turned back, a smattering of color on his cheek.

As he swung the door inward, the glare from the rising sun hit the glass just so. Ino had to raise her hand to her forehead to cover her eyes from the golden glint, a glint that caused Shikamaru to temporarily disappear from her line of vision.

When she finally lowered her hand and the shine had vanished from her eyes…

And she was staring at the back of Shikamaru's legs. Because Shikamaru had turned back and was now a smidgen taller than he had been before.

OoOoOoOoOoOo

Sakura could feel her sobs subsiding. She could only force tears for so long…and she could sense that the shopkeeper knew she was calming down. Knowing that she hadn't given Shikamaru and Ino enough time to get everyone out, she did some quick thinking and came up with a plan to stall the shopkeeper for a few more minutes at least.

"There. Are you feeling better?" the shopkeeper pulled out a handkerchief and handed it to Sakura, who rubbed her nose and her eyes on it, crumpling it in a hand. After she had wiped her face, she did what any child would and made to hand the handkerchief back, only to have him tell her to keep it. "Now, I have a store, just down the road. How about you come with me and get some hot chocolate?"

Sakura nodded and the shopkeeper helped her to her feet.

The pink haired girl had been waiting for this. While she had attempted to hand the handkerchief back, she had discreetly untied her shoe and now, as she climbed off the bench, she made a point to step on her shoelace after the shopkeeper had released her hand…and she stumbled, falling to the ground, skinning her hands and knees rather badly.

Causing her to flinch and cry out, tears forming at the corners of both eyes once more.

The shopkeeper's eyes opened wide. "Oh dear," he said as he picked her up gently, placing her back on the bench. Taking the white cloth from her, he used it to gently wipe down her knees and the palms of her hand. This abrading of her skin, however, only caused her to cry out again in pain.

The shopkeeper sighed and sat down on the bench.

OoOoOoOoOoOo

Shikamaru stepped into the store, Ino cautiously on his heels. "Hey! Are you guys in here?" called the blonde into the depths of the department store. Almost immediately they heard a reaction from the back. "Yeah! We're here!" Running feet were heard coming from the back of the store. Ino and Shikamaru ran down the aisle towards the sound and were met up with the four who had been trapped all night in the store.

"Ah! Are we ever glad to see you two," said Tenten, her brown eyes strangely bright. Ino's blue eyes snapped down to where her hand bearing a cheap child's ring was entwined with Neji's. Ino looked back up at Tenten's face, causing the girl to blush and look down. "Okay guys, let's get out of here."

"Wait! What about the ramen that Hinata and I ate? And the ring that Tenten's wearing?" Neji sighed. "He's right," he said, jerking his head in Naruto's direction. "We can't just not pay for this stuff."

Hinata reached into her back pocket, pulling out her little butterfly shaped change purse that she had received as a gift when she was younger from Naruto. "I-I-I have some change." Tenten released Neji's hand and reached into her back pocket and found some spare change as well. "So do I," she said, holding it up to show everyone. A quick count and it was found that the girls had enough to cover what had been taken or eaten from the store that night.

"Now Naruto, Neji I hope that you guys know you are paying the girls back. We females can't be expected to pay for everything you know," Ino shot the boys a look.

"Well….Ino it's okay that I paid for Neji because now, technically, my money is his money and vice versa."

Ino froze in her tracks. "What did you say?" she said, her eyes flickering back to where their hands were once again intertwined. Tenten launched into the first explanation of many, as they started walking out of the store.

"What I was missing," she started, "was a last name. I had thought, originally that there was no way for me to turn back because how could I get a last name without going to the Hokage right?" she paused and put the money on a cashier desk. "Well, I told this to Neji and he proposed. Right here, in the department store. And we got married…right here in the department store. All we have to do is get Hiashi-Sama to officiate it…"

Ino gave her a peculiar look. "Why did you call him Hiashi-Sama?" "Because I'm now part of the branch clan. I'm Hyuuga Tenten."

Neji looked over at the two girls conversing. "That's right…I need to speak with Hiashi. When we get out of here, Hinata-Sama, can you please go back to the compound and wait for us there? We'll come right over to speak with Hiashi-Sama."

Hinata nodded. "I-I-I'll go right there. N-N-Naruto…" Hinata turned to the blonde boy, blushing slightly. "T-thanks for helping me tu-turn back." Naruto smiled widely. "Hey, it's no problem Hinata. Thanks for helping _me_ turn back." He took Hinata into a hug and the girl turned pitch red. "I-I've got to go…" she whispered, before turning and running for the safety of the compound.

"We should go too, just at a slower pace," said Neji. "Come on Tenten," he offered her his elbow as he said this.

This left Ino, Shikamaru and Naruto. "Hey, where's Sakura?"

"Oh that's right!" exclaimed Ino. The blonde proceeded to whistle like a bird, sending the signal that they were out and Sakura could let the storekeeper continue on his way.

OoOoOoOoOoOo

'**FINALLY!!!'** Screamed inner Sakura as the whistle was heard. She allowed her sobs to subside and eventually stop as she looked up at the man who had helped her. "Thanks for helping me sir. I'd better get home now." The shopkeeper smiled. "No problem. Come by the store and see me any time." Sakura looked up at him with large emerald eyes. "Uh-huh! Thanks mister!!"

She ran off.

OoOoOoOoOoOo

He stretched and his eyes fluttered open. How long had it been since he had had a night sleep that good? Ages. He ran his fingers through his black messy hair and sat up. The featherbed beneath him creaked and within a few moments, the door had opened. "Good morning Kyo-Chan."

Sasuke flinched, hoping that Kayko wouldn't be too shocked to find a 18 year old man where a 6 year old boy had been last night…

But she didn't even notice the difference.

He looked down at his body….

'If a family is what I was missing, and I got that back…why am I still a child?' he wondered.


	15. Chapter 15

A/N-Thanks to those who reviewed the last chapter: (takes deep breath) ..., liandrin, Confuzzled239, Merridaine, bunnyandpuppylover, redsoul, iamNOTafangirl3221, SakuraUchiha4, ShiokuXRose, rebel-girl, Mizu-Kaze Hana, Mi-to-chan, tiffanylicis, Othello101, Bishieluver01, Loku, Seyann, elwing59, puppy44219, LuvDaAlchemist, C.A.M.E.O.1 and Only, duckichan87, seguha, kakashifaves, scienceboy, Animegurl9164, RetaroO, Karen Trujillo, Iloveinuyasha44, Dog of the Dead, maniackiller12, Cunning Angel, Sarah Rebecca, Uchiha Aimee, Green Animelover, Twilight Dragoness, Youko-Kuramas-Kitsune and xelagirl2. Read and Review this chapter!!!!!!

Disclaimer-I don't own Naruto

Chapter 15

"So Kyo-Chan, what would you like for breakfast?" Kayko asked him. It had taken Sasuke a few moments to persuade himself out of the comfortable featherbed and he was now sitting on a stool at the kitchen table with messy black hair, wearing an old rumpled t-shirt of Tatsuma's and his own shorts. He looked up at her, his half-asleep brain attempting to process what she had just said to him.

"Whatever you're having is fine Kayko-San," he responded in a sleepy voice, looking back down at the counter.. Kayko propped her chin on her hand, leaning on the kitchen island. "You sure?" Sasuke nodded. "Okay then…" she turned her back on him and set to pulling bowls down from the cupboards. "Kyo…what's your favorite breakfast dish?" she asked slyly.

"Pancakes and maple syrup…. wait!" Sasuke looked up. Kayko was facing him, a ceramic bowl in one hand, a smug smirk on her face. "Pancakes it is."

Sasuke narrowed his eyes. "I didn't know you were sneaky Kayko-San." Kayko turned to the counter and began to throw together various ingredients. "Well…" she laughed. "Not really. I just know when to ask the right questions. Do you want to get some eggs out of the fridge for me please?"

Sasuke got off the stool and padded over towards the fridge. "One or two Kayko-San?" "Two please Kyo-Chan."

And as he had the previous afternoon, Sasuke helped Kayko bake.

After he had finished eating, Sasuke asked Kayko a question. "Kayko-San, can I please borrow your phone? I usually meet up with a friend by now and she might get worried if I don't show up."

Kayko smiled. "Was it that cute little pink haired girl I saw you with yesterday?"

Sasuke colored and muttered a quick yes. Kayko laughed and grabbed the portable phone and handed it to the child. Sasuke expertly punched the number and held the phone to his ear attempting to huddle away from Kayko's smirking face. 'Come on Sakura, be there,' he thought.

OoOoOoOoOoOo

The first bit of batter hit the pan with a hiss and Sakura inhaled the wonderful smell of cooking pancakes. "Forehead girl are those pancakes almost done?" Ino called in from the living room. Sakura narrowed her eyes and Inner Sakura shook her fist. "You try cooking while standing on a stool Ino-Pig!!" she yelled back.

The edges of the pancake began to bubble. Sakura reached for the flipper and gingerly poked at the edge of the pancake. Upon being confident, she flipped it and waited for a few minutes, relishing the hissing sound that the wet batter made on the pan.

"Yours is ready Ino."

Ino darted in from the other room and snatched a plate off of Sakura's table. The little blonde haired girl held it out expectantly. "Ugh!!!" said Sakura exasperatedly. "You're going to have to come closer Ino!"

The phone rang. "On second thought, you can get your own food, I've gotta get that. Put some more batter in the pan and flip it when it's ready please, so I can eat." The pan dropped back onto the stove with a clatter.

"Hello, Sakura's residence…. Sasuke is that you?"

'_Yeah, it's me…"_ "Where are you?" asked Sakura, twirling the phone chord around her finger. _'Kayko-San's, hold on for a minute…' _In the background, slightly muffled, Sakura could hear the still child like Sasuke talking in the background. _'Kayko-San can I please go to another room to speak to my friend.' 'Of course, you remember where your room was right?' 'Yes Kayko-san.'_

Sakura waited patiently until Sasuke was in another room and he finally managed to say, '_So Sakura I have a question,'_ he lowered his voice. '_I got my missing family. Why am I still a child?'_

Sakura bit her lip. "Okay, let me check the book, hang on." She dropped the phone on the floor and padded across the kitchen to where the massive book still lay on the floor. She dragged it back over to the phone and picked up the receiver, flipping to the page as she did so.

"Okay, here it is," she put a finger to a spot halfway down the page and began to read. " 'If you have achieved what you were missing and have found that you have yet to turn back, then you are a special case. You are still a child because you need to help someone else turn back into their normal state-only after that will you turn back to normal yourself.' That's what it was like for Neji last night. He got was he was missing halfway through the afternoon but he didn't turn back because he had to help Tenten get what she was missing."

'_What was that?'_ "A last name. They got married…Hinata married them. As we speak they should be at the Hyuuga compound getting Hiashi to officiate the ceremony and the union."

'_So who is left that I could assist?'_ "Ino and myself. Us three…we're all that's left."

'_I see…. Oops Kayko's calling me, I've got to go. I'll come by your house later.'_

"Bye Sasuke."

Sakura hung up the phone and turned back to the kitchen. Just in time-her pancakes were ready. She took them off the pan and smoothed butter over the surface before lathering it up with syrup "Sakura!!! I want more pancakes please!!!" "Sure Ino…." The blonde girl smiled… "After I eat."

Ino fell over backwards. "But I'm hungry…" she whined. "That's nice…" said Sakura around her pancake.

OoOoOoOoOoOo

Neji and Tenten entered the Hyuuga compound quietly as most of them were still asleep. Before they took more than three steps into the compound, however, Neji stopped Tenten and took her hand. "I am completely confident that he will allow the marriage…. this is just a formality. And remember, no matter what happens, I…. love you." Tenten looked at him, surprised. He hadn't said the words yet and she was wondering if he ever would…. and he had. She smiled and leaned in close to his face. "I love you too Neji…" she said softly.

He led her into the main building that sat up on a hill overlooking the entire compound. Inside they could hear two voices softly murmuring-one was definitely Hinata's, the other Tenten didn't recognize.

"Wait here…" Neji stopped her just outside of the door to the main building. "I'll call for you when Hiashi wants to meet you."

With that, Neji knocked respectfully on the door and waited until the male voice within called "Come in Neji."

Neji slid back the rice paper door and stepped into the room. On the floor in front of him, at the other end of the large main hall, sat Hiashi, with Hinata standing behind him. Neji donned a stoic face, removed his shoes and stepped forward into the room. He walked forward and when he was about five feet away from Hiashi, he knelt.

"Hiashi-Sama. How are you this morning." Hiashi closed his eyes, opened them and looked towards his nephew kneeling before him. "I was fine until Hinata showed up and told me that you urgently needed to speak to me this morning."

"Yes, Hiashi-Sama. I need you, as head of the Hyuuga clan to officiate something that happened last night." This got Hiashi's attention, his pearly eyes narrowing. "What is it Neji?"

"Last night, there was an urgent matter that needed attending to-a close friend of mine needed my help…a female friend as it were…." Neji looked to the floor.

"And to help her in her hour of need…I took her as my wife. I was married last night. And I need you to officiate it so that it's a valid marriage her parents would accept."

Silence rang through the hall. Hiashi's pearly eyes narrowed.

"You…..took a wife without the permission of your clan leader….without _my _permission?" His voice rose with that last note into a shout. "Neji do you have any idea what you've done??"

A/N-Hope you guys enjoy this chapter!!!!! Read and Review!!!!!!


	16. Chapter 16

A/N- Wow. The response for this story has been just incredible. THANK YOU!!!!! Thanks to those who reviewed the last chapter-C.A.M.E.O.1 and Only, elwing59, Iloveinuyasha44, tiffanylicis, Loku, Animegurl9164, xelagirl2, redsoul, i-have-issues-deal-with-it, bunnyandpuppylover, AzNAnGeL07, Merridaine, Loafery, Green Animelover, kimi13, seguha, rebel-girl, SakuraUchiha4, Song of the Storm, Seyann, Dog of the Dead, iamNOTafangirl3221, kazumi kyoshira, Link Fangirl01, duckichan87, Princess Aiyana, Bishieluver01, frenz4ever, Yumi Kitsuna Kazeyokai, Sarah Rebecca, Twilight Dragoness, Cunning Angel, sakura-sasuke-together, SaNdEr-ThE-rUbBeR-bAnDeR, MyNameIsKelsie13, Youko-Kuramas-Kitsune, Ohohen, and charl for reviewing the last chapter. Also, thanks to those who reviewed the one-shot I wrote on Wednesday called 'The Weakness'-SaNdEr-ThE-rUbBeR-bAnDeR, duckichan87, Loku and MyNameIsKelsie13. everybody please check it out...AND READ THE BOTTOM AUTHOR'S NOTE!!!!!

Disclaimer-Paprika no own

Chapter 16

Sakura shoveled the last bit of light fluffy pancakes into her mouth. Placing her fork down, she licked the syrup off of her fingers and sighed happily. Ino did the same, having made her own pancakes. "Mmmm that's good," she stretched her small body out as far as she could go and then curled up in on herself. "So…who's cleaning up?"

Shikamaru ambled into the kitchen, following the smell of the pancakes. "I smell food." Sakura smirked. "Yes, you did smell food. Now the food is gone. If you want some more, make it yourself."

The phone rang and Sakura hopped off her chair to go get it, passing by Shikamaru who let out a "Troublesome" as he went to the cupboard and grabbed the pancake mix.

Sakura picked up the phone, saying "Hello, Sakura residence," "_S-Sakura_?" Sakura wrinkled her large forehead. "Hinata is that you?"

"_No it's…Tenten_," the voice on the other side of the line. "Tenten? What's wrong?" Tenten was the last girl to ever call Sakura with her voice on the edge of crying. "_I-It's…Hiashi. He's going to refuse the match I just know it…He_," her voice broke and a sob made it's way up her throat. "_He just yelled at Neji, 'do you have any idea what you've done?'…Sakura, I…_"

"Where are you?" "_The_ _Hyuuga compound."_ "That's all the way across town…." Sakura muttered trying to pick the best route. "Okay. Tenten, stay where you are I'll be there as soon as I can." _"Thanks Sakura"_

Sakura hung up the phone and turned to Ino and Shikamaru. "Hiashi's setting up to refuse the match. I've got to go be with Tenten. If Sasuke calls or comes back, you can tell him where I went. Shikamaru watch after Ino." Ino scowled. "Why does he have to watch me?" Sakura sighed. "Because you're in the body of a six year old. It's for appearance sake."

OoOoOoOoOoOo

Sasuke was (finally) leaving Kayko's house. "I told…my friend…" he pointedly ignored Kayko's wink and smirk. "I'd meet her at her house." A lie, but he knew that Sakura would be at her house-she had nowhere else to go. "Are you sure you're going to be okay Kyo-Chan? Living with no one else?" "Yes Kayko-San, I'm sure," he paused and trained his eyes on the ground. He was about to do something he rarely did… "Thank you, Kayko-San. For giving me a meal yesterday, letting me sleep over last night and breakfast this morning."

Kayko smiled. "For someone who lives alone, you have exceptional manners. And you're welcome Kyo-Chan. Any time you need a family to come home to, just come over here." Kayko held her arms out and Sasuke got one last hug from the woman with eyes like Sakura's. "Good bye Kyo-Chan."

As Sasuke walked away from Kayko's house, he thought 'As soon as I turn back I'm going to come here and tell her the truth. And make her promise not to tell…'

He rounded the corner, heading towards Sakura's house, but unfortunately he bumped into another women, this one with blonde hair, a white undershirt with a broad black band just under the breasts and a green overcoat and a little green mark on her forehead…

Wait. A little green mark on her forehead….

_OH CRAP!!_

"Sasuke…. why are you a child…" her voice trailed off, a fire lighting in her eyes.

Sakura didn't want Tsunade to find out…right?

Too late.

OoOoOoOoOoOo

Neji and Hinata were frozen, only Hiashi's livid breathing could be heard. "Wh-What do you mean Hiashi-Sama?" stammered Neji, sounding like his cousin. "Oh come now, did you expect me not to be mad?" thundered the clan leader, leaping to his feet, his robe swirling around his body.

"You are a branch clan member and you cannot do anything-especially something of this importance-without my authority! In the eyes of me and all the Hyuuga's you're not…"

Neji didn't want to take this anymore. He knew what Hiashi's next words were going to be and he didn't want Tenten to hear that. For once-he was going to stand up to his clan leader. For his wife.

"Not in your eyes, Hiashi-Sama, but in the eyes of every other person in Konoha…I'm married. I wouldn't have acted so quickly if it hadn't been urgent." Neji got up and stared hard at Hiashi.

OoOoOoOoOoOo

Sakura rounded the corner of the main building of the Hyuuga complex as quietly but as quickly as she could. She could see Tenten crouching outside the main door, her hair still down, reaching halfway down her back. "Tenten," whispered Sakura, trying to catch the attention of the weapon's mistress. Tenten heard her and spun around. Tears were clearly threatening to spill-some had traced their way down her cheek already. Tenten grabbed her friend into a tight embrace.

"Sakura…he's standing up to Hiashi…I don't know what's going to happen." Sakura nodded, reassuringly rubbing the young girl's back.

From inside the hall the pink haired girl could hear the head Hyuuga's incredulous voice. "Who are you to speak to me that way Neji?"

OoOoOoOoOoOo

"And why is it so important? Is this girl pregnant or something?" Neji's eyes widened. A white-hot rage boiled up in his gut as he processed Hiashi's insinuation. "What did you say…?" Hiashi gave him a sharp look so he added on a "Hiashi-Sama."

"I asked if this girl was pregnant," said Hiashi in an even voice. "I will not respond to that insinuation," hissed Neji. "If you are calling my wife a whore…I respect her virtue more than I respect my name as a Hyuuga! The marriage has yet to be consummated." Fire flashed in his white eyes. "She is not pregnant."

Hiashi's eyes were still stony as he turned his back on his nephew. "Still, the union isn't valid. It wasn't preformed by a high up head branch member. I hereby want this union dissolv-"

"Outo-Sama you're wrong." Hiashi turned, startled, to his daughter. "What do you mean Hinata?"

"The marriage was preformed by a high up head branch member-I preformed the ceremony m-myself…" Hinata lost her nerve as her father's eyes narrowed. "Did you daughter?" Hinata nodded. "And what was this mystery girl's reaction upon learning she was to become a Hyuuga."

"She was very grateful, and proud to accept our family name. In her own words she took the oath of allegiance and honor that all who aren't H-H-Hyuuga and marry in must take. And you are, again, wrong father. In my eyes…they are married."

Hiashi sighed. His long whitening hair swirled around his face as he paced, trying to make his decsion.

"What is this woman's name?" Neji inwardly sagged with relief.

OoOoOoOoOoOo

Tenten's eyes lit up with unabashed hope as she heard Hiashi's words. "She is my teammate, Tenten, the weapon's mistress." The girls could hear relief in Neji's voice. Obviously, this meant that Hiashi was now going to judge in their favor.

"Please bring her in." Neji's footsteps were heard walking down the hall. He stuck his head out the door and said "Tenten, come in, meet Hiashi…. Sakura what are you doing here?" "I called her, I was starting to panic. Thanks Sakura," she added, turning to the child-like girl.

"No problem. Go on in now Tenten."

OoOoOoOoOoOo

"Hiashi-Sama may I present my wife Hyuuga Tenten." Tenten knelt before Hiashi, flinching under his sharp glare at hearing her name attached to Hyuuga. "Hiashi-Sama," she murmured.

"Are you willing to accept the honor that goes along with being a Hyuuga? Are you willing to die for that name?" Tenten glued her eyes to the ground. "Yes I am. I am proud to be a Hyuuga."

"Hm," Hiashi stood and walked over to where Tenten knelt, put a finger under her chin and raised her face so she could see him. She faced him with what she hoped was a proud look in her eye. But not too proud.

"Very well." Hiashi turned his back on the girl and her husband.

"This marriage is valid. It has been preformed by a high clan member, she willfully accepts the burden of being a Hyuuga, and she is everything I hoped for in your wife Neji."

A brilliant smile ripped across Tenten's face and a satisfied grin on Neji's. Hiashi dismissed them saying "We'll organize a proper ceremony for later this week."

After the two newlyweds were gone, Hiashi turned to speak to his daughter. "Hinata. You behaved like a true Hyuuga leader, acting in that fashion. I'm proud of you." Hinata blushed and ducked her head. "T-Thank you Outo-Sama."

A/N-Hope you guys liked this chapter, Read and Review!!!

This story, also, is drawing to a close. A couple more chapters, maybe more but probably not many more. This being the case means that I've got to start working on my next story. I want you guys to vote on it so please read the summaries...and vote!!! One is a Cardcaptor Sakura story, one is a Howl's Moving Castle, and one is a Naruto fanfiction.

The Howl's Moving Castle Fanfiction

_Dreaming_

Summary- I'm standing in a field of flowers, someone is holding my hand and calling me beautiful…but before I see his face, I wake up. My name is Sophie Hatter and I've had that dream every day for as long as I can remember.

Paring- Sophie/Howl

The Cardcaptor Sakura Fanfiction

_Assasination of the Heart_

Summary- Kinomoto Sakura is the daughter of a well-respected politician- as such she is often the target of kidnapping and assassinations attempts. When her father attempts to pass a new piece of legislation, this is no different…but what happens when you fall in love with the one who is supposed…to kill you?

Paring- Unknown

The Naruto Fanfiction

_Erased-Sequal to When Reality Becomes Blurred_

Summary- Five years have passed since the end of When Reality Becomes Blurred. Mika, Seyann, and Michelle are all settled into life in Naruto's world-they all have their own life. However events are swiftly approaching that will change their lives forever. (The summary sucks but the story is going to be good)

Parings-Same as WRBB.

SO, IN THE SPRINGTIME OF YOUTH...VOTE!!!!!


	17. Chapter 17

A/N-Thanks to those who reviewed the last chapter-we're almost at 500 reviews people...thanks. Dog of the Dead, rebel-girl, iamNOTafangirl3221, animegurl9164m Iloveinuyasha44, seguha, geminia, Green Animelover, Confuzzled239, Sarah Rebecca, kimi13, SakuraUchiha4, Song of the Storm, LuvDaAlchemist, Shikachick, tiffanylicis, Yumi Kitsuna, Merridaine, Twilight Dragoness, Mimi, Kakashifaves, 2supersmart, zelagirl2, SaNdEr-ThE-rUbBeR-bAnDeR, C.A.M.E.O.1 and Only, Nemo, Seyann, Soafery, Link Fangirl 01, Puppy444219, elwing59, duckichan87, goyankeesbooredsox, Ohohen, ShiokuXRose, kawaii chibi sasuke luver, Bishieluver01, Kyurichi, dieane-chan, Cunning Angel, Yuki Akira, and Kyoni. Read and Review!!! ALSO, VOTING IS STILL OPEN FOR THE NEXT STORY. TO SEE THE SUMMARIES SEE CHAPTER 16!!!!

Disclaimer-I've put this for every single chapter so far. why would it change? i don't own!

Chapter 17

Sasuke sat opposite of Tsunade in her office, head bowed before the scowling Hokage. "I dragged you to my office because you refused to talk to me on the streets of Konoha. Now, Uchiha Sasuke. WHY ARE YOU A CHILD?" she thundered.

"I don't know this 'Sasuke' you speak of. My name is Kyo," said Sasuke, trying to fend off the questions of the Godiame so that Sakura wouldn't get in trouble for giving the squads illicit potions. "Oh please, Sasuke, you don't fool me." However, the blonde haired Hokage could see that, for whatever reason, the chibified Sasuke wasn't going to budge from his claim that he was some boy named Kyo. Therefore, she would have to resort to…tricky tactics.

"Okay Sasuke, we can do this two ways. You know that I have the DNA of every single registered Shinobi on file. I can do a DNA test, or you can admit that you are who I _know_ you are." Sasuke scowled and clenched his fists. "Fine, you win Tsunade. What do you want to know?"

"How did you get this way?" Sasuke flinched. Right off the bat, having to give Sakura away. "Two nights ago, Sakura was giving a party. I think that Naruto accidentally mixed a potion she had been working on into the punch. We fell asleep and woke up in these bodies." He could see that the Hokage was working on controlling her temper. "Who's we?"

"Neji, Lee, Tenten, Ino, Shikamaru, Choji, Shino, Kiba, Hinata, Sakura, Naruto and myself." Tsunade rubbed her forehead.

"How…has this affected Konoha on a whole? Because, it seems whenever something like this happens to you guys something earth shattering happens to this town." "I've been cloistered at the house of a woman who took a homeless child in for most of this time. Sakura would be more informed about what has happened."

"Very well. SHIZUNE!!!!" The assistant of the Hokage poked her head into the room. "Yes, Hokage-Sama?" "Bring Haruno Sakura here…. and just so you know, she's going look like she's about 6 years old. And let her know that I am _extremely displeased!!!!!!_" she hissed. Shizune nodded quickly and left the room.

OoOoOoOoOoOo

Sakura walked down the awakening streets of Konoha, on her way home from the Hyuuga compound, a smile on her face. She was so glad that Hiashi had accepted Tenten…for a moment there, she was almost positive that the clan leader was going to _reject_ the match. Well, no harm no foul.

Now all she had to worry about was how to change herself back. She was almost positive that Sasuke was supposed to help her because he hadn't changed back yet either when he definitely should've.

Then, of course, there was always the danger that he was supposed to help _Ino_ turn back, which would leave Sakura high and dry…but she wasn't willing to entertain that possibility. For, even though she was no longer the fan girl she had been all those ages ago before Sasuke had left, that didn't mean that she didn't love him. Which she did.

And so help her…she would make sure she ended up with Sasuke if it was the…

And when did these thoughts start up again? Sakura wrinkled her brow and sighed. She thought that she had given up those feelings when she was younger. Like…13 younger. Maybe it was because her body had been regressed. She had been in this form for so long, it was starting to toy with her hormones. _Not good!_

If it continued like that, along this trend she'd…have to go…. and face the music with Tsunad…. "Sakura, there you are. I have orders to take you to Hokage tower. Tsunade isn't very happy with you."

Sakura froze and a shiver ran up her spine. "Oh crap…Shizune, how did she find out." "I'm not willing to tell you. Come back to the Tower with me please."

OoOoOoOoOoOo

"I wonder how it went," said Ino softly. "What did you say?" Ino looked over to the sofa where Shikamaru lay. "Never mind, it's not important." Shikamaru sighed, sitting up. "If it's about Tenten and Neji, I have no doubt that it went fine. Neji isn't a fool; he wouldn't have married her unless he knew for almost certain that it would've been approved. Relax."

Ino smiled gently. "Thanks Shika." She stood from the couch and walked over to the window. "I'm getting worried though. Sakura should've been back now. And not just for Sakura-for myself too. I haven't turned back." She smiled, slightly melancholy.

Shikamaru opened one black eye and looked at her.

Flashback (Shika)

"Anyways," she continued, "I think what I was missing, when I was this age…well…you know how there are some instances, in kindergarten and the like, when the guys pick a girl…they don't want you to know that they like any of you. I, however, found out whom it was they liked…. it was Sakura. Not even that little pink billboard brow knew that all the guys had the hots for her. And…I think I was, even at that age, just a little jealous of her."

End Shika Flashback

"It's that simple eh?" he said under his breath. "How troublesome. Ino. Yesterday, you told me that you were missing the guys finding you attractive…even at that young age?"

Ino nodded, turning away from the glad of the window to study Shikamaru's face. "Yes?" she said in a careful voice. If Shikamaru was going to say what Ino was thinking he was going to say….

Ever since that day, when Ino realized that she didn't love Sasuke, she had been drawn closer and closer to her genius team member. Even if she didn't always show it, she had wound up falling in love with him. And hearing, from him, that he liked her…even if it was accompanied by about a million 'troublesome's'…that would be remarkable. That would be incredible…

That would take a miracle. One that wasn't going to happen.

"This is so troublesome…and probably sounds really weird coming from someone about three times your age but just so you know, not _every_ guy was gaga over Haruno." The black eye slid closed and he leaned his head back. Ino stiffened. These non-specific answers were getting her NOWHERE. "You're going to have to be a bit more specific than that Shikamaru you lazy bum."

"I thought you were smarter than that you troublesome girl. What I meant was that I never saw Haruno that way." When Ino didn't say anything he groaned and said, "Don't make me spell it out. Yeah, some guys carried a torch for Sakura but when we were that you…." He sighed. "Were the one that caught my eye."

Ino's eyes widened, as she looked at Shikamaru. "Seriously." "Do you know how troublesome it was for me to say that? Don't make me repeat it."

Ino smiled softly. "Thank you Shikamaru." Suddenly, Ino felt as though someone was stretching her from the inside out, trying to grow her back to full size. "Wha…"

She never got a chance to finish her sentence before she was brought back to full size. Smiling, she turned to Shikamaru, prepared to ask him if he still felt the same way, as adults…

Only to find that he had fallen asleep. "Shikamaru you idiot…" she growled, clenching her fist.

OoOoOoOoOoOo

"Just what…" growled Tsunade "Were you thinking, giving that potion to your friends as a _party drink????"_

"It wasn't as if I invited them over with the pure intention of giving them a therapy potion Tsunade-Sensei. I forgot to dispose of the remains of the potion and Naruto mixed it up with a drink that I had served earlier that night."

"Sakura…. I can't believe you would be so foolish as to leave potions sitting out. Sasuke please stand outside while I discipline by apprentice."

Sasuke left the room and stood outside. The murmur of voices was heard from inside and, before long, Sakura stepped out of the room.

"What's your punishment?" "Well, I have extra potions homework plus I'm on Tower cleaning for a week." "Hn. That's not that bad." "But I still need to turn back before I can do that. And I'm not going to be able to turn back quickly…" Sakura sighed. "I'm going to the meadow. See you later." She turned on her heel and raced away.

Unfortunately, not fast enough. Sasuke could see the tears welling up in her eyes.

A/N-There. Hope you guys enjoyed, Read and Review!!!!!!


	18. Chapter 18

A/N-Thanks to those who reviewed the last chapter…all 50 of you. Redsoul, Animegurl9164, Sarah Rebecca, MissRule, Kawaii chibi Sasuke luver, charl, Blood Heron, wickedthunder02, rebel-girl, RoxasRocks, Yumi Kitsuna Kazeyokai, NazaliaSan, AzNAnGeL07, elwing59, puppy44219, Youko-Kuramas-Kitsune, Iloveinuyasha44, Orchestrate Sound, kimi13, SakuraUchiha4, sakurasasuke0tentennejistories, seguha, Twilight Dragoness, XxInner-SakuraxX, MaoAyanamipl, tiffanylicis, 2supersmart, iamNOTafangirl3221, Confuzzled239, …, Kyurichi, Seyann, C.A.M.E.O.1 and Only, xelagirl2 Uchiha Aimee, Song of the Storm, Arabella Sparrow, Mi-to-chan, Bishiluver01, goyankeesbooredsox, duckichan87, LuvDaAlchemist, Green Animelover, Link Fangirl01, SaNdEr-ThE-rUbBeR-bAnDeR, kawaiibaka10, Loafery, Azalea14, Nemo and OrangeCo. PLEASE READ THE BOTTOM A/N!!!! Read and Review!!!!!

Disclaimer-Don't own!

Chapter 18

It wasn't long before Sakura managed to reach her favorite haven-the meadow that she went to as a child with Ino. By then, all thoughts of 'don't cry' were gone from her head and she collapsed on the top of the hill in tears.

It fit, really, that she was the last person to get what she was missing. She was the last person to feel the sting of her own potion. The sting being, trying to find out what she was missing so she could get her life back.

But that wasn't what was making her cry.

What was making her cry was that chances were slim of her changing back. She didn't want anyone to lie on her behalf…especially because if they lied, it wouldn't change anything. She'd still be stuck in this body. And what was worse, she had inadvertently dragged Sasuke into this mess. He'd be turned back if it wasn't for her.

Not that she cared or anything.

She sniffed and brushed her eyes clear. "Forget it. I'm going to have to just learn how to live like this," she muttered. She leaned back against the flowers and closed her eyes. "What are you missing?" Surprised, her eyes popped open only to see the black haired chibi leaning over her. She flushed. "I'd…prefer not to tell you."

Sasuke plopped down onto the ground beside Sakura and grabbing her wrist, pulled her into a sitting position. "Look. You and I both know that you're the reason I'm still a child," growled Sasuke, trying to make her feel guilty.

His strategy was to attempt to call on any feelings she might still bear him. It had been awhile since she had acted like a full-fledged fan girl…and it wasn't like he missed it, but Sakura had been distancing herself from him. They were still friends, of course, but she was less obsessed.

It would be a cold day in hell when he admitted it out loud but…okay he missed her having these feelings about him. Or, maybe she did but she just didn't want to say anything.

"Sakura we're not moving from this spot until you tell me what you're missing." "Then get comfortable," huffed the pink haired girl.

She lasted a half an hour of the two of them just sitting there, wind blowing the flowers around the two of them. "Okay fine. But I'm not going to stay after I say. I'm missing…" And there, in the middle of a field of flowers, Sakura finally told someone else that she needed someone to call her pretty before she would change back.

"…. There. I hope you're happy now Sasuke. I've gotta go." Sasuke chuckled from where he was sitting. "Why are you laughing?" asked Sakura, indignantly, as she stood to leave. "Hmph. I thought living with Kayko might've taught you how to associate better with other people."

Sasuke smirked. "Evidently not," huffed Sakura as she whirled away from him. "Sakura…wait."

"What?" Sasuke sighed. "Your forehead isn't ugly. At least, I never thought it was. It made you original." Sakura looked at him, eyes wide with disbelief. "Okay, who are you and what have you done with my old teammate?"

Sasuke snorted indignantly. "I'm trying to be serious." "You're always serious. You should lighten up and joke once in a while." "Look consider this my way of repaying you for persuading me to go to Kayko's house." "I don't believe you. First of all I don't believe that you would think this billboard brow isn't ugly. Second I don't believe you're actually Sasuke. He'd never say something like that."

Sasuke growled. "You're being annoying Sakura. And you're making this extremely hard. I mean what I say. You're forehead…" he sighed. "You suffer from this misconception that whenever people meet you, their eyes are drawn to your forehead and all they can think of is how unattractive it looks like. Well get that idiotic misconception out of your head because it's not true. Now for the love of everything please don't make me say that again."

Despite doubting his words as a rule, Sakura could sense the sincerity behind them. He meant what he said…even if she didn't believe it. That meant….

An odd sensation came over Sakura's body. It started out gentle but as it progressed, it felt as though her entire body was stretching out to reach its former height. And it was over as quickly as it started. Sakura shook her head, and pulled her forehead protector out and tied her hair back. She turned in the direction of Sasuke, and noted with some degree of satisfaction, that he had turned back too-she had been right.

"Finally, it's about time," muttered Sasuke. "Let's go back to my place. Last I checked Ino and Shikamaru were still there."

"You go I've got something I've got to do."

OoOoOoOoOoOo

Kayko was preparing dinner that night, wondering where Kyo was at that very moment. The featherbed had been made up nicely and was waiting-just in case he showed up that night. Secretly, she hoped he did…and she had been talking with Tatsuma and, if the child was truly orphaned, they were considering adopting him.

She was in the process of cutting up a piece of celery for that night's supper when the doorbell rang. She suppressed a smile, knowing who it was. Therefore, she was surprised when she opened the door and it…wasn't Kyo.

Instead, it was a guy who looked to be in his late teens or early 20's, a forehead protector on his forehead, indicating he was a ninja, and Kyo's coloring. "May I help you?" she asked, more than a little curious. "Yes, Miss Kayko, there's something I need to discuss with you. May I come in?" Kayko nodded and opened the door to admit the young man.

"How can I help you?" asked Kayko after she had shown him into the living room. "I wanted to thank you. For what you did. And to explain something." "Oh!" said Kayko with a smile. "You must be a relative of Kyo. It was no problem…" "Yes, well that's what I wanted to explain."

"Several days ago, I was at a party with my friends and my friend who…is little more than a dope, mixed up the drink with a potion another friend had made. Everyone who drank it was reverted into a child like stage until they could find out what they were missing."

Kayko had an confused expression on so he elaborated. "We had to find what we were missing as a child-be it as drastic as someone to love or as frivolous as say, not having a last name. After we did that and achieved that we would turn back." Kayko nodded in understanding. "But what does this have to do with me?"

"My name is Uchiha Sasuke. Surely you've heard of the Uchiha massacre?" Kayko nodded. "I lost my mother and my father in that attack as well as all my relatives. When I drank the potion and reverted back into the child I had been it didn't take me long to figure out that I was missing a family."

Kayko seemed to finally be putting two and two together but Sasuke said it anyway, just to make sure. "The name I gave you was Kyo but everything else was real. And I came to thank you for helping me turn back into an adult."

Kayko looked stunned. "I can't believe something like this could happen…but… I'm glad I could help you Sasuke-San."

Sasuke managed a small smile. "Actually…please drop the 'san' and…just Sasuke is fine."

"Very well, 'just Sasuke'…. do you want to bake some more cookies?"

OoOoOoOoOoOo

Later on that night Sasuke and Sakura sat at Sakura's kitchen table, munching on the soft chocolate chip cookies. "So, she didn't mind that you were actually a 18 year old in a 6 year old body?"

"No, she didn't. I was surprised actually." "Oh, while you were out I got a call from Tenten. There's a ceremony set up for tomorrow so that the Hyuuga's can officially recognize the marriage of Neji and Tenten. We're both invited."

"Hn."

**_A/N-_**There. There is one more chapter left after this. One…more…chapter. (sob) Read and Review. OH! And we have a problem. 'Dreaming' and 'Erased' are tied for the votes. Therefore, I need you guys to revote on just those two. The summaries are…

_Dreaming_

Summary- I'm standing in a field of flowers, someone is holding my hand and calling me beautiful…but before I see his face, I wake up. My name is Sophie Hatter and I've had that dream every day for as long as I can remember.

Paring- Sophie/Howl

And

_Erased-Sequal to When Reality Becomes Blurred_

Summary- Five years have passed since the end of When Reality Becomes Blurred. Mika, Seyann, and Michelle are all settled into life in Naruto's world-they all have their own life. However events are swiftly approaching that will change their lives forever. (The summary sucks but the story is going to be good)

Parings-Same as WRBB. So…REVOTE!!!!

P.S- If you read WRBB and would like a nice little spoiler for the sequel…then Answer me this question The person (more than 1) who can tell me the Names of King Henry VIII of England's 6 wives and put them in order from 1st to 6th….will get a spoiler.

MATA ASHITA!!!


	19. Chapter 19

A/N-Please forgive the delay on this chapter, as I'm sure you all know, the document manager was down and noone could upload new documents. Thanks to those who reviewed the last chapter: Loku, sallyluv16, lone-wolf987, Seyann, charl, Merridaine, Geminia, bunnyandpuppylover, bluestar112141, puppy444219, seguha, Twilight Dragoness, SakuraUchiha4, Kyurichi, RetaroO, elwing59, 2supersmart, ShikouXRose, Sarah Rebecca, LuvDaAlchemist, Song of the Storm, tiffanylicis, duckichan87, C.A.M.E.O.1 and Only, Hikari Tsuki, goyankeesbooredsox, wickedthunder02, iamNOTafangirl3221, Yumi Kitsuna Kazeyokai, rebel-girl, Ohohen, Orchestrate Sound, Green Animelover, Yuki Akira, Youko-kitsune-kitsune, Link Fangirl01, maniackiller12, MyNameIsKelsie13, redsoul, Iloveinuyasha44, Arabella Sparrow, Bishieluver01, Loafery, Maoayanamipl and WeHoldTheseTruths. Also, since this is the last chapter, a couple shout outs.

To every single person who made this story what it is, and gave it the numbers it managed to achieve-in other words, every single person who reviewed. As of right now, 594 reviews, 27581 hits, 8 c2's, 96 faves and 132 alerts. You guys are awesome, and you rock!!

To whoever gave me an idea for this story in their reviews that was used. Thanks!

To Mika-Chan (MyNameIsKelsie13). If you hadn't have given me this idea to use, it wouldn't have even gotten anywhere. So, sincerely, THANK YOU!!!!! Technically this entire plot bunny? Yeah…hers. I am flattered she thought I was a good enough author to pull it off.

Here's the last chapter of Problems with Potions. Enjoy….

Disclaimer-I don't own Naruto

Chapter 19

The next day, every one of the old rookie nine and team Gai attended a festival at the Hyuuga celebration grounds. Sakura attended, wearing a light green kimono with a pale pink sash around her waist that complimented her hair color and her eyes all at once giving her a pretty, innocent look. Her short hair was pinned back by light green pins that matched her eyes and in such a style that actually complimented her forehead. Instead of giving her a billboard brow, it gave her an innocent, child like quality.

Sasuke was dressed in traditional formal Uchiha robes with the Uchiha fan on the back, as a clan representative.

Shikamaru had come, at Ino's insistence-and yes, he had acknowledged that he still felt as he had when they were younger (somewhat irritably after Ino had woken him up). He was back in his chunnin vest, with his forehead protector securely on his arm in its normal spot with his hair in its normal spiky ponytail. Ino was wearing a dark gray kimono with an even darker green sash around her waist. Her hair was pulled back into a bun with two green chopsticks sticking out and a long strand of blonde bangs covering her face.

But the bride and the groom looked the best. Tenten's hair was pulled back into not two but one solitary bun, with tendrils, exposing her high forehead. Hiashi had had the Hyuuga seamstress work almost round the clock for a day so that the robes would be ready for the ceremony. And they were. Tenten wore a white kimono of a material, softer than she had ever felt before-silk, but not silk. She had white flowers tucked into her hair and a veil of a light gauzy material.

Neji wore his father's old robes, they fit him perfectly. Ceremonial robes-a loose fitting haori with the traditional loose fitting pants. Not white but more of an ivory; and his long hair was pulled back into a tighter than normal ponytail.

The ceremony had been beautiful. For Naruto, Hinata and even the bride and groom, this was slightly repetitive. The husband and wife repeated the vows that Hinata had already had them say, Tenten once again swore that she would honor the name of Hyuuga with her life.

Only this time it was much more romantic, considering that they stood in the middle of a field of sakura trees with the petals falling all around them. And when Neji kissed Tenten, it was like a scene from a romance novel.

After that, the festivities began. A professional band had been called in and they struck up now; the caterers began to set out the food. Naruto ate nothing but ramen (but since it was catered it was very very good ramen). There were some traditional activates as well. A cake had been made up-a confectionary masterpiece. It had been dually cut by the bride and groom and had been consumed at an alarming rate. Then, after the cake was cut, the bride threw her bouquet of lilies and white roses.

Sakura had caught the pretty, ribbon adorned bouquet and had promptly turned bright scarlet, amid the cheers and jabs of her friends.

And then, after the food, the dancing started. They started with fast songs and then, as more wine was consumed and the atmosphere began to lean towards more romantic feelings. For some people at least.

Choji, for example, was having romantic feelings towards the barbeque. He had already consumed an alarming amount of meet and was preparing to consume another pile after having procured an antacid from the Hokage who was also in attendance.

Lee had discovered the Hyuuga training room and Hiashi was in the middle of trying to extract him from the weight set.

Upon Sasuke's request, Kayko and Tatsuma had been invited and were in the middle of dancing. Kayko had already danced with Sasuke and Tatsuma had only shaken his head in disbelief at the fact that the one he had housed was, in reality, a fully trained ninja.

The bride and groom were sharing an intimate dance to a slow, gentle song. Neji muttered something into Tenten's ear, causing her to laugh. She then proceeded to peck him on the cheek and mutter something back.

Shikamaru, to everyone's surprise, seemed to be enjoying a dance with Ino. Even though, his face said 'bother this troublesome woman', anyone who really, really knew him knew that by the fact that his eyes were closed and he was actually having a fine enough time.

Sakura watched everyone from her seat, a small smile on her face. If she had known that all it took to play matchmaker with her friends was a little botched therapy potion she would've done something like this ages ago. She smiled as Ino coaxed Shikamaru into dancing with her one more time and Tenten try to persuade Neji that she couldn't survive one more dance-her feet hurt and her high heels were pinching her toes.

"Sakura, would you care to dance?" Sakura looked up, startled.

Sasuke stood there, his hand outstretched. Sakura smiled, and nodded. "I've had enough of sitting around."

Sasuke lead Sakura out into the dance floor. Putting an arm around her waist and taking her other hand into his own, he began the intricate steps of a waltz. Sakura had never learned this dance and, instead of talking like all the other couples were doing because the pink haired Kunoichi was focusing on trying to not step on Sasuke's toes while Sasuke was focusing on trying to make sure Sakura didn't fall.

Oh…and because he was there to hold onto her-she didn't. Fall that is.

OoOoOoOoOoOo

And so, life continued on as it had. The blip in time where they had been children had started to be referred to as 'THAT time'.

About two weeks after THAT time, Sakura was, once again assigned to do a remedial potion for Tsunade. This one was a type of therapy potion for siblings. Under the Hokage's tutelage, however, Sakura had been getting better at mixing potions and more knowledgeable and knowing when to add the ingredients and what ingredients to add.

Finally finishing the siblings potion, Sakura read the final instruction-cool in fridge to approximately room temperature. "I can do that," she pulled a pitcher out of her cupboard, poured the thick green juice and put it in the fridge.

After cleaning up the cauldron and all her supplies, Sakura went upstairs and began to tidy up-Gaara and his siblings were coming to Konoha for a visit and they would always stop by so that Temari could say hi to a fellow Kunoichi.

Honestly, if she could've stopped what had happened she would've. All she knew was that she was in the middle of cutting up some cucumber for her snack and that was when the sand siblings had decided to show up. "Hey Sakura, how are you?" Sakura turned and faced the wind mistress who stood right behind her. "I'm fine, just making a little snack."

"Jeeze, after a trip though the desert there's nothing that one would want better than a nice cold drink." Kankuro opened up the fridge and began to dig through with one hand. Temari scowled. "Oh that's nice just start digging through other people's fridges, our parents really raised you well." "Shut up Temari. Mmm this looks good, and it smells fresh. Gaara, why don't you have some too." Temari spoke up, "Hey, save some for me, I'm thirsty too!"

Sakura smiled, her back to the siblings as she continued to cut some cucumber up into the right size. "Family…" she murmured. When she turned around, however, the plate in her hand went crashing to the floor. "It's a little thick," commented Gaara dryly as he wiped his mouth clean. Temari took a swig…

The jug in her hands was the one that Sakura had just poured her siblings potion into.

"What…I feel woozy…" mumbled Kankuro as he reached out a hand to steady himself. Unfortunately, the first person he came into contact with, was Temari. Temari had already been on her way to becoming very dizzy and she too reached for a brother to steady herself…except she managed to grab Gaara's shoulder. There was a soft fizzing sound…and then, the sand siblings appeared to be better. Except Sakura knew they weren't.

Gaara looked up. But it wasn't quite Gaara anymore, his cold eyes were a little softer. "What's…going on?" that was Temari's voice coming from Gaara's body. Kankuro's eyes had become sharp and cold. "Haruno what did you give us?"

"It's…something I've been working on, my potions. It's a sibling empathy potion, which switches the bodies of a certain set of siblings who take it, but you weren't supposed to drink it! Damnit I was even careful this time to clean up after myself." The sand siblings exploded into commotion as Sakura sweat dropped.

'Here we go again…' thought Sakura.

A/N-Yes, _technically_ this is supposed to be the last chapter. Yes, I know I left it an open ending. You guys, decide if I should add on another chapter. Read and Review…and if not, see you in the story that won!!! (goes off to tally the votes)


	20. Authors Note

I've decided, thanks to a suggestion from Loku, that ther will be no next chapter to this story, however, I have just posted a one-shot that will cap off all the Sand Siblings stuff. Go read it if you want!!!

Paprika


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